Nintendia - Book I: Year of Absolution
by e.a.zavinski
Summary: After the Nintendia galaxy's heroes came together to destroy the evil Tabuu and save the universe, they are met with further challenges as a united front seven years later. The old god has returned and so have other nemeses from the heroes' pasts. Can they band together and save the universe once again, especially when they only have one year to do it?
1. Prologue: The Subspace Emissary

**Nintendia - Book One: Year of Absolution**

 _Prologue – The Subspace Emissary_

In a dimension that parallels our own, one of much greater triumphs and tragedies, beings of much finer mettles wage war against a supreme evil in a land of the same name: Nintendia of the holy planet Trinity. These beings had all been fabled in legends both old and new: some as shining heroes and others as embodiments of fear and evil. However, they all had to stand together in order to protect their land from a supreme evil that wanted nothing but to wipe out all. This soulless entity was known as Tabuu, the God of Subspace, capable of pilfering the physical world of light and bending it to his own whims.

His plan needed a beginning, rather a means of truly connecting his world to that of our heroes. His first step was to enslave the brainless, yet mysterious tribe of robotic operating buddies atop the floating Island of the Ancients. Through inter-dimensional telepathy, these mindless robots proved fine surrogates for the army Tabuu would soon build. These R.O.B.s were forced to disgrace their own holy lands and build a factory that would mass-produce bombs intended for the sole purpose of introducing the land of light to the vast darkness of Subspace.

What Tabuu would never have fathomed was that a consciousness simply bloomed in the empty metal head of one of these robots. Without an identity, this robot was the only hope that stood against Tabuu's master plan. This robot was regarded the wisest of his friends and was a natural leader. He felt disgraced now as he saw no way out of his situation, afraid of the sacrifices his friends would have to make. He often wondered if the threat would ever go and if his race would be exterminated regardless. Meanwhile, while this robot, an emissary of Subspace, formulated a plan under the guise of an Ancient Minister, a being of pure blackness, one of neither pure intentions nor malicious motives, was abducted and coerced by the mindless ones. Tabuu had his suspicions that this being had special powers and that they could be used to siphon an army. He was right; the seemingly endless pool of magic, a source denoted as Shadow Bugs, originating from the black one produced an army of incredible size. The lands would soon be dominated by hordes of primid foot-soldiers and the skies by swarms of auroros. Everything in between was dominated by prehistoric creatures, artificial intelligence and countless enemies of unknown origins.

The Subspace Emissary was there to witness all the horror and in his fright, sent an anonymous distress signal to anyone who would answer. For days, no one answered the desperate call until Master Hand, a manipulator God of the light world, became curious about his own creation and decided to investigate the situation. Before he intervened directly however, he summoned two warriors to assist his cause, one from another world entirely and the other from the distant future. Little did he know, he would face someone of even greater power than his own, and, as he was seen as an unnecessary obstacle but an old enemy, Tabuu captured the Master Hand with chains of light, bonds that would never let a being of the light world escape Subspace. Recognizing the Master Hand as a being still of high authority in Nintendia, Tabuu decided to force Master Hand into manipulating any formidable foes that would oppose into unknowingly obeying orders from Tabuu himself. Everything was falling into place for Tabuu and his Subspace army.

As "first-in-command," Master Hand recruited the likes of King Dedede from Pop Star's Dreamland. With his own Waddle Dee army, this king's first mission was to procure a means of transportation for his forces. Lazy as always, Dedede sought out his acquaintance Meta Knight and his flagship, the Halberd. Duping the masked swordsman was easier than expected, and the Subspace army made off with the Halberd. This greedy king only briefly led Subspace forces since, upon learning of the army's true goals, he became scared and decided to concoct a plan against the army in secret.

The immortal King of Evil Ganondorf was next chosen to lead the Subspace forces, but his Triforce of Power deemed him too foolish to follow the Hand blindly. His response to the might of the Subspace army was quite different; he wanted to control it absolutely instead and manifested secret desires to usurp the Hand's might. In his conquests with his new army, he recruited King of the Koopas, Bowser, and promoted him to third-in-command. Ganondorf saw Bowser's blind loyalty and endless swarms of koopa troopas as valuable assets to his cause. Taking note of his surroundings, the ever opportunistic Wario secretly decided to work as a bounty hunter, a mercenary under his own hire that would cause trouble and independently collect his own trophies in this war.

The land of Nintendia lies within the mystic World of Trophies, a world in which death brings trophification only now in the harmonic convergence Tabuu had just established as a trick to distract the land's mortals. Nintendia's denizens lived to fight and to relish in the sport of it. The epicenter of this pastime was Smash Stadium, an arena that once floated in the far eastern plains of the Mushroom Kingdom and past the northeastern borderlands of Hyrule. One fateful day, in Stage One of a new tournament, Super Mario, famed athlete of said Mushroom Kingdom, was to face a new challenger. Like Dedede and Meta Knight before him, Kirby followed and left his home of Pop Star to embark on new adventures. Unfamiliar with new intergalactic tactics and copy abilities, Mario lost to Kirby who promptly revived him in the spirit of impeccable sportsman-like conduct.

Then things took a turn for the worse when the Halberd appeared and spread Shadow Bugs from the sky, encompassing the whole of the arena. At this unusual turn of events, spectator princesses Peach Toadstool and Zelda of Hyrule jumped into the fray as the four defended the audience from the scores of primid soldiers. While they were preoccupied though, the Subspace Emissary, under the direction of the Ancient Minister, leader of the R.O.B. forces, reluctantly dropped the first of many bombs in the middle of the arena. The Ancient Minister could not bear to watch and fled while two of his kin committed themselves to sacrifice by opening the bomb. Three minutes were all that was left when the unthinkable happened; Petey Piranha of Bowser's forces knocked Mario into the heavens and captured the princesses in a flash, leaving Kirby to fend for his life and those of the royalty. After a tough fight, Kirby managed to best Petey, leaving him flaming dead in the explosion that followed. Kirby managed to save Zelda but was too late in saving Peach who was trophified and captured by the menacing Wario and his Dark Cannon. The clock was ticking and there was simply no time as Kirby and Zelda fled on Warp Star, leaving thousands of lives to be consumed by the Subspace explosion.

The Goddess of Light, Palutena, and the captain of her guard, the angel Pit, witnessed all of this from the heavens above. Blessed with her bow, Pit decided it was best to address the situation head-on as the primids were infiltrating Skyworld now as well. After accepting the Bow of Light from Palutena, Pit fell back into the clouds and out of the goddess's temple with the power of flight carrying him onward into battle. Little did Pit expect to find an overall-clad man resting on the clouds, but his instincts told him to revive the poor man. Mario and Pit became fast friends from thereon out and rid the clouds of evil. The pair bounced and soared in pursuit of the Halberd, but someone else had them outmatched. This someone piloted an Arwing, a ship capable of ranged attacks and blistering speed through the skies.

Meanwhile in the sea of clouds, Zelda held on tight as Kirby tried to navigate the heavens around him. Unexpectedly, the two were caught by the rushing wind and crash-landed on the Halberd. Things were quiet for a moment, but then the Arwing confronted the Halberd. The skilled pilot was met with relentless laser fire and performed stunning aerial maneuvers to avoid even a scratch. When the pilot came in for the attack however the main cannon fired its arm, catching the Arwing off-guard and sending it spiraling downward to the land below. In the scuffle, Zelda and Kirby were blown overboard and also made their reluctant descent to what awaited them beneath the clouds.

Bowser, as a less-than-stellar military commander, gave up on watching all his troops a long time ago and let them run wild throughout the land. One area the koopas were quite interested in causing trouble was the dense jungle of the Kongo. Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy were vacationing here when a Hammer Brother general made off with their banana hoard. The Kongs did not take too kindly to this crime and beat countless goombas and koopa troopas to a pulp. The Hammer Brother who had made off with the fruit suddenly hatched a plan and decided to use the bananas to lure the Kongs to King Bowser who was armed with his own Dark Cannon. In order to determine if the Kongs were worthwhile trophies, the Hammer general met the ape and chimp with a barrage of bullet bills which were, to his surprise, shot down promptly by the chimp.

The two Kongs raced wildly through the jungle as the chimp scampered nimbly and the ape caused mini earthquakes where his feet stomped the ground. Upon reaching King Bowser, the Kongs were on top of the Hammer general pummeling him into the rich soil. Bowser was no slouch and realized the opportunity by charging his weapon. Seeing the inevitable ahead, DK literally punched his little buddy into the wind, allowing himself to be captured by the nemesis Koopa. Seeing what had happened to his uncle, the distraught Diddy moved through the jungle to see if he could find any help for his best friend.

Back on solid ground again, Mario and Pit spotted something shining in the distance. It was the Ancient Minister! Due to the gravitational limitations of the plumber's super jump and not being blessed with Palutena's power of flight anymore, both heroes fell short of catching the Ancient Minister. Nevertheless, Mario and Pit were never ones to give up easily and continued their pursuit of the minister.

Finding his uncle's capture all too reminiscent of a recent capture and resulting quest on K. Rool Island and needing a rest, Diddy came upon Kongo Jungle's lake for a drink. The chimp almost jumped out of his fur when the legendary Sky High Pokémon Rayquaza burst from the watery depths. The monster, with his lean body and sharp yellow eyes, first noticed the crashed Arwing on the opposing bank and obliterated it with a single hyper beam. Diddy soon found himself in the clutches of Rayquaza's green talons and in paralyzing fear. Then suddenly the pilot of the decimated craft ejected himself from his cockpit and freed the monkey in a flash. Only Fox McCloud, with formidable speed to match his quickness in flight, stood a chance against Rayquaza. Using the beast's hyper beam against itself with a reflector mechanism, Fox banished the monster back to the water's icy depths. In even more shock at the vulpine's skill and finesse, Diddy Kong begged and pleaded for Fox to join in the search for DK. Originally Fox just wanted to get back in touch with his team, but seeing as his arwing's destruction had left him stranded, he reluctantly agreed to the monkey's wish and joined him on his quest.

Fox and Diddy spent hours searching the remainder of the jungle, still with no sign of either DK or the menace that had stolen him away. In trying to be more efficient with their travels, Fox decided to jump on a raft to make their way down the raging Kongo River. After their raft was ruined by bullet bills, Fox still wanted to use the riverside as a bearing for navigation. Diddy was extremely comfortable following the pristine intellect of experience and leadership of Mr. McCloud as he first called him. Fox insisted that he be called by his first name.

At the edge of the jungle, the towering Bowser was spotted by the Fox's sharp, green eyes and was confronted. Unknown to the Fox and the chimp, Bowser had merely left a clone of himself thanks to the Shadow Bugs to deal with any unwanted pests on his trail. It was defeated, and the faker was discovered as the trophy merely dissolved into darkness. The real Bowser appeared suddenly and tried to shoot the Fox down, but McCloud was too quick. Diddy wanted to stay and fight, but Fox had learned from experience that taking the risk is not always the best option. Besides, Donkey Kong was nowhere to be found, so Fox took his new buddy down the side of a cliff, through the jungle, and onto the trails leading into the swamplands.

As chaos continued to unfold in Nintendia, Ganondorf finished his recruiting with Porky Minch, an evil boy genius from a land far to the south, a land dubbed Eagleland. Porky heard rumors and held suspicions that his old friend Ness would be wandering the Podunk Zoo, and eventually the rest of the world, aimlessly for more adventure after he and his friends had defeated him and the alien superpower, Giygas. In the guise of the unfamiliar yet fitting Pig King Statue, Porky was given permission to seek this boy out as his first trophy.

Lucas (the warrior who was summoned from the future Trinity by the Master Hand after the apocalypse caused by pulling the seven needles) was walking through this very zoo, an institution that became abandoned decades earlier due to a Starmen invasion. He was consumed with thoughts of his twin brother Claus, his dearly departed mother Hinawa and the rest of his friends that were nowhere to be found when the ever-familiar Pig King Statue dropped from out of nowhere and began harassing the poor boy. Lucas tried hard to elude Porky but eventually lost his bearings and collapsed in a mix of exhaustion and vertigo. Cowering in fear, Lucas expected the worst when PK thunder suddenly knocked the Pig King Statue on its back. Thinking it extremely odd that this attack did not come from his own PSI powers, Lucas was overjoyed to see another boy who looked a little like him. Out for revenge, Ness squared off with the bully and obliterated his statue form with PK flash.

Porky and his bed-mech was no match for both PSI-powered boys of fortune; even the swarms of robot porkies were merely garbage strewn throughout a ruined zoo when Ness and Lucas were finished with them. It started to downpour afterwards, but droplets of victory soon turned into bullets of despair when Wario appeared atop the rubble of a fallen exhibit. The bounty hunter attempted at capturing Ness with his Dark Cannon, but that proved fruitless. After one look at Lucas's cowardly demeanor, Wario thought it much easier to try to procure a trophy from this boy instead. Ness, without a moment's hesitation, sprang into action and pushed Lucas out of the way of the beam at the cost of his own capture. All Lucas could do was look on in horror at the menacing grin of this evil man and run away, like always, with the echo of the man's evil laugh riveting throughout the thunderous clouds in his mind forever.

Lucas was sick of bullies, sick of being a coward, sick of running away but most of all sick of losing his friends and family. He also began to focus on just how confused he was to find himself alive in a world he thought he had destroyed. This was when Lucas bumped into Red, a Pokémon trainer from the Kanto region in the World of Pokémon. After slight pleasantry, Red released his Squirtle to do some legitimate battle against some primids. Now a young man, Red was here in this land only to challenge himself by surviving in a quest with only this starter Pokémon at his side. After fending off these foes and other shadow beings called Floows, Lucas thought joining with the trainer his best bet at saving his new friend, Ness. Red did not take too kindly to the proposition at first, but reluctantly approved after hearing this partnership really would not interfere with his search for new wild Pokémon.

As these two new friends made their way to the ruins of the east, the winds of death were just settling northwest of the ruined zoo on a vast war-torn desert surrounding a lone fortress. The eternal battle for the Fire Emblem had been interrupted by the new Subspace conquest. Prince Marth of Altea looked upon this landscape and with his perfect vision, spotted the Ancient Minister on the horizon. It was time for the second bomb to be placed, another sacrifice for two of his brothers. The blast radius of this one was enormous compared to the last time, and the entire battlefield was engulfed in darkness. Once Marth made his way to the site of this abomination, his peerless vision was useless; all he could see were dark clouds and endless abysmal landscapes.

Without a second to spare, the enemy swooped in for the kill, but Marth countered swiftly and became locked in combat with a shadowy swordsman. The two fought fiercely, but as primids ambushed them, priorities changed and the soldiers were bleeding Shadow Bugs in moments. Surprised to find out that the other was on the same team, or at least not the one of the enemy, Meta Knight joined swords with the Falchion and its Prince. The Knight was plotting to regain control of his vessel, and nothing was going to stand in his way, not even darkness itself.

In hot pursuit of the Ancient Minister and kicking up the barren sands with feet and wings, Marth and Meta Knight both tried in vain to subdue their culprit, but they were just out of reach. When all seemed lost, Alondite rose from the ground and came down upon the Ancient Minister with Great Aether. The noble Ike transported from the deeprealms had finally caught up with the floating ancient and disarmed one of his lethal bombs. He managed to get away but not without the capes of three valiant swordsmen hot on his tail.

Meanwhile, far in the west, Luigi, the not-as-super Mario brother, was finding himself preoccupied with the new species of round, cuddly creature that was infesting the grassy trails. These waddle dees were just the first step in King Dedede's plan to build up a resistance to the Subspace army. While distracted, Luigi was no match for the mighty Jet Hammer that came unknowingly from behind. Not only did fortune smile upon the penguin monarch once with this trophification, but Wario, with his cart loaded with the Peach and Ness trophies, soon came upon a nice pit stop. King Dedede made use of his foe's distraction yet again and made off with the precious cargo of two while Wario was bombarded with swarms of waddle dees that seemingly sprouted from nowhere.

Called from the depths of the Lost Woods from a distant time, Link of the Twilit Era with a guardian fairy named Navi, who had been lost, brandished the Master Sword once again, once more reborn the legendary Hero of Time and blessed with the Triforce of Courage. Not knowing why he had been called by the goddesses of old, Link set out to investigate the remainder of the sacred forest when the Halberd flew overhead, raining down its destruction. Readying his sword, shield and multitude of other tools, Link prepared for battle against mysterious puppets of the forest when a sleepy Yoshi decided to join him after his quick nap nearby. The two flashes of green proved strong but not enough to catch the speeding Halberd above.

Some foreign spy from another dimension had managed to infiltrate the shadowy vessel via risky HALO jump. This man smuggled himself into the cargo area and decided it best to wait out events in that area, under the camouflage of a run-of-the-mill cardboard box. This mission was unlike anything he had ever embarked upon before.

After a term of cryo-sleep in her spaceship in orbit above the planet, Samus Aran, a mercenary for hire, woke up to the same distress signal the Master Hand had received weeks earlier. Being of a kind and investigative nature, Samus came upon the Island of the Ancients. The landing was peaceful and all too quiet and so was her infiltration with the aid of her sleek Zero Suit gifted to her by the extinct Chozo race. Samus eventually came to a point in which the activation of her Varia Suit was necessary in order to blast a blockade that was preventing further exploration. It worked, but the thermal buildup that correlated with her charge beam attracted dozens and dozens of R.O.B. sentries that rushed the bounty hunter, deactivated her suit and stole it from her flesh. Now much more vulnerable, all Zero-Suit Samus could do was evade the lasers and missile of her oppressors and climb into the ventilation shafts to avoid disintegration.

Eventually Samus figured the best way out would be to deactivate the power and leave the Island unharmed and maybe recruit reinforcements afterwards. She found the power supply undetected, stumbling upon an unorthodox way to generate electricity: siphoning it from a defenseless Pikachu. Shocked by the brutality of the situation, Samus used her plasma whip to free the injured creature which triggered an alarm in the base. Now it was up to the two of them to find out just what was going on here and why the distress signal came from this place.

Back on the surface world, Kirby and Zelda found themselves along the shore of a colossal lake and looking for their lost friends. In his eagerness, Kirby rushed ahead leaving his new companion behind. This proved a fatal error for the princess as King Bowser snuck up on Zelda and shot her down with his Dark Cannon, crafted as always by the dark magic of the aforementioned black being. Bowser's cruelty knew no bounds and he ordered the Shadow Bugs to consume her trophy, making an evil copy. Further along the shore, Mario and Pit were hoping they had not lost the Minister for good when the Dark Zelda clone was spotted with a Dark Cannon of her own. Pit was much too quick for the cloned princess, however, and sliced the weapon in two, leaving a defeated Zelda collapsed in the following explosion. Usually not one to jump to conclusions, Link the Hero saw the plumber and angel pair standing over his defeated princess. In the confusion, Link challenged the two to a fight after narrowly missing Mario with his sword while Yoshi was taken aback, very conflicted by the fight between two of his good friends.

As such, Yoshi preferred to take to the background in this fight, and Mario and Pit overpowered Link, turning him into a trophy. Before Mario could stop the angel, Pit tamed the innocent dinosaur before anything could be done otherwise. King Dedede, on the way back to his new castle in the northern mountains, saw the opportunity and seized it, specifically the fallen Yoshi and Link trophies. Kirby had foreseen this however and chopped the arm carrying the statues in half with his cutter ability, subsequently freeing them. Sprung back to life, the eagle-eyed Link picked his mark with the Hero's Bow and wounded Dedede's stolen kart. The machine was still going though, so the five heroes decided quickly to put aside their differences and join together to track the penguin king. Mario had to swallow his pride now, as the very young man who he had defeated could prove necessary in retrieving the lives of both his little brother Luigi and his Princess Peach. Pit and Kirby were particularly absorbed with the weird appearance of the trophified young boy, Ness, and so they too urged the group to an even quicker pace to save their follow citizens of their world.

Meanwhile, Bowser, unaware of his rival's journey to the castle, was ordered by his superior Ganondorf to do recon in the area as well. The Evil King knew however what the Koopa would find there: trophies and all according to plan too. The Gerudo man grinned with devilish satisfaction as the koopa troops marched forward on his monitor in his new-fangled base situated inside the technology-rich Island of the Ancients.

When Lucas and Red stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient town, they marveled at the gigantic spire rising from the ground and the majestic Charizard that called the place its humble roost. Along the path to the ruins, the two were ambushed by none other than the meddling Wario. Ready to face his foe this time, the combined powers of Lucas's PSI and Squirtle's quick attacks proved more than enough to lay Wario to rest in the dirt.

Back at his castle, King Dedede finally began to realize his new plan. Earlier he had concocted brooches that would relinquish anyone of their trophy state after a certain point in time. Surmising that his castle along with the rest of the world would be doomed to Subspace, a few survivors would remain as rays of hope in the hellish nightmare of the darkness that was Subspace. After bestowing Luigi and Ness with their brooches, Dedede realized that there were not enough, so he bestowed his own upon the very attractive princess. Not knowing what hit him, Dedede almost felt proud of doing what most would consider the right thing. Shrugging it off, he retired to his meditation in the dimly lit hall of his fortress.

Meanwhile, the five heroes united had explored treacherous caverns filled with deadly traps and noxious fumes to get to the entrance of the ominous castle with the Halberd floating in the backdrop filled with the red clouds of foreboding doom, clouds they had come to associate with the ship and the Subspace army. The group had, out of luck, found two of their targets and wasted no time infiltrating the castle. As they went to open the main gates however, the entire place shuddered with seismic-like might, turning the main hall into a pile of rubble.

Dedede, left unconscious by the blast, was unaware of the Koopa foot soldiers pillaging his castle led by the unstoppable and ferocious Bowser. Once his scouts had found the Princess Toadstool, Bowser immediately forgot his goal and kidnapped only her, leaving the palace in ruin and in the wake of the heroes. Mario, realizing the princess was missing from the hall, rushed outside through a hole that had been blown in the back wall of the castle. Spotting his adversary, Mario readied a fiery punch when the Koopa King flashed Peach in front of his determined eyes, causing Mario to direct his strength to the cliff face instead. Pit just behind let fly Palutena's arrow, catching Bowser off guard and causing the two Mushroom Kingdom monarchs to tumble down the precipice. Mario was distraught until his grief turned to hatred, as the evil Koopa rose from the planet in the Koopa Clown Car, carrying Peach off into the silhouette of the Halberd. In the confusion, the Dedede brooch had flown off. Finding it an appealing looking snack, the hungry Kirby consumed it in one gulp. Ignoring the metallic taste in his mouth, the puffball followed the rest of the gang who were once again in relentless pursuit of the Halberd and, if they were lucky again, the Ancient Minister.

Perched atop the highest mountain was the Ancient Minister and two of his sacrifices, directly on schedule for the third time. As Dedede's castle was consumed by Subspace, Ganondorf unknowingly subservient to the wishes of Tabuu, suspected nothing in a brief telecast with Master Hand himself. The oppressive chains of light were not visible to anyone of the Light World, not even the dark thief Ganondorf. No fool, Master Hand suspected Ganondorf's mutiny but could only suffer pain and torment and do nothing while under the gaze of Tabuu in the hell that was the realm of Subspace.

While the third terror of Subspace was engulfing the palace and everything around it, Red was focused intently on his Pokémon journey. It had now taken him deep into the labyrinthine ruins of the east. He had stumbled upon and captured an Ivysaur, but his true objective was the Charizard in the fiery heart of the lower levels. The beast put up one tough fight, but Squirtle's water-based attacks along with a healthy dose of PK thunder were super effective. After all was said and done, Red had three Pokéballs that held the essential water, grass and fire types.

Back west, the three swordsmen were brandishing their swords against the peculiar creatures of the arid sands and harsh winds of the wilds. In the distance, they spotted a silver-plated tank traveling at blistering speeds. Afraid it was another weapon of mass destruction, Ike immediately jumped into action followed by an eager Meta Knight and a skeptical Marth. After all, this weapon looked like it was capable of more chaos than anything the trio had seen thus far. Upon intersecting the path of the unwavering machine, something quite unexpected happened: the lethal tank known as Galleom by the Subspace Army transformed right before their eyes into a humanoid-rhinoceros hybrid form, something quite spectacular and all the more dangerous to witness.

Galleom had a variety of attacks at its disposal including heat-seeking missiles and seismic quakes that shook the ground beneath the heroes' feet. Unfortunately for the beast, the warriors spent little time on foot as they jumped and flew around the tank's massive hulk. The light quickness of the blue-haired youths and their masked friend outmatched the momentum of Galleom who could not keep up with three fighters at once. Overwhelmed, Galleom leaped into the distance onto unstable ground. The three rushed ahead to find the beast had fallen through the ruins' path into oblivion.

Finding themselves in a giant, spiraling chamber, Red and Lucas halted in the silence of this dead end. Suddenly however, light flooded the hall as Galleom plummeted to the bottom. The now enraged Galleom's eyes shone a bright white, prompting the two heroes, now unafraid of any evil that fell before them, to wage battle against it. The fabled Charizard showed his strength, crushing Galleom's skull and setting it ablaze. This revealed Galleom's most impressive feat of engineering; a Subspace bomb was planted in its head, and in a last ditch effort, the beast grabbed the two heroes. With the last of its power, Galleom propelled itself back outside the ruins and into the sky with the help of its tank boosters. Lucas noticed that his friend had fainted, and, unwilling to let another one succumb to evil ambitions, he used PK thunder to blow apart the arm that was holding the two. The young boys fell back to the planet as the fourth Subspace bomb enveloped the spire and its feint circle of cirrus clouds.

Darkness enveloped the land, but the boys were saved! Meta Knight with his cape morphing into wings caught the pair just in time and carried them to safety. Thus, a group of another five heroes had been born while the other five were successful in chasing down the Ancient Minister elsewhere in the wilds. Staring at the new void, the maw that consumed the ruins, the Minister was knocked out of his melancholy state by one of Palutena's arrows. The chase that ensued left the Minister bitter and ready to give up (the group was relentless and nothing would stop them), but the loyal R.O.B.s followed their predetermined orders. One even caused the Minister's next bomb to come crashing down on its body. Two more willing to sacrifice their artificial lives locked into place and opened the bomb. The heroes struggled to pull the R.O.B.s free, but it was too late. The explosion had already engulfed the wilds when Mario barely escaped on his trusty steed Yoshi along with Kirby, Link and Pit on warp star. The Minister silently told himself that he had had enough. Death of friends was now a guarantee.

Meanwhile, the Fox and the chimp had been exploring the ravenous jungle-marsh to the north for signs of the kidnapped Donkey Kong. After infiltrating some mysterious structures nearby, the two found themselves in a swamp brimming with wildlife. The going was much more peaceful now and the new friends strolled along for a while and talked about a great many things. Diddy Kong learned that Fox was from a different system entirely and that he and his team aboard the Great Fox mother ship had come here after answering a cryptic distress signal.

He also learned that Fox had a wife, Krystal, and a young pup named Marcus. Seeing how much family meant to this newfound friend reminded Diddy of his uncle DK and urged him onward. Suddenly though, out of nowhere, the shot of a Dark Cannon pierced through Diddy's chest, and he dropped lifeless to the ground. While Fox dodged the shots from the Koopa King, the Shadow Bugs produced yet another evil clone. Fox was overwhelmed until an Arwing zoomed from the skies above, narrowly missing Bowser with its twin blasters. The pilot, with no need for landing gear or even landing for that matter, dropped from the cockpit to reveal himself as the suave Falco Lombardi, ace pilot of the Star Fox squadron. Within milliseconds, the gun was out of the Koopa's hands, kicked into the air and blown to pieces. The disgruntled Bowser made another quick escape in his Koopa Clown Car as Fox revived Diddy to what was an interesting duel. His clone absorbed more dark magic and increased its size tenfold.

With the help of Star Fox, the Kong fought the false leviathan, avoiding the massive simian feet and whip-like tail that rained down upon them. With the combined forces against it, the shadow clone was defeated and melted into the crisp air of the expansive swamplands. As Fox had been persuaded before, Falco was ushered into the rescue mission by the persuasive Diddy Kong, and the three set out to find DK. Upon reaching the crystal blue waterfall that led to the sea, a transport was spotted by the team. Its crowning jewel was the trophy leader of the Kong Klan himself, but the skiff was speeding away; the three could not catch it in time. Seeing Diddy's disappointment, Falco devised a plan and executed the first step: calling in the Great Fox!

As the Island of the Ancients seemed mystical to the animals on the continent, there was quite a different outlook inside its facility through the eyes of the intergalactic bounty hunter and her newfound electric pet. Pikachu and Samus Aran had explored nearly the entire facility, plagued with R.O.B. sentinels of varying assortments. They finally found the Varia Suit in a secret chamber near the core when two shadowy figures assaulted the pair. Samus was astonished to find that her Varia Suit had been copied and fully upgraded to the complete Gravity Suit twice and that these clones stood before her, ready to do battle. Fortunately, the plasma whip's electrical currents along with the surges of lightning shooting from the mouse Pokémon's red cheeks short-circuited the AI controlling the suits as effectively as it had done to the R.O.B.s albeit it being a much longer battle.

Those relentless baddies returned in full force after the lock on the Varia Suit was released, but it was already too late for them. After fusing the Chozo machinery to her Zero Suit, it took mere seconds to charge up her arm cannon, obliterating everything in her path. One look from Pikachu was all it took to urge Samus onward, ready to investigate completely what was really going on in this mysterious facility. Through many rails systems, it did not take long to reach the empty hall known as the core chamber. Expecting much more, Samus was caught off-guard by a familiar foe. Without warning, she was lifted high up into the chamber and smashed into its circular wall. The terrible and malicious Ridley, leader of the Space Pirates and arch-nemesis of the bounty hunter, was merciless in grinding her crippled body against the walls of the chamber. Fearlessly, Pikachu unleased an electrical storm on the boss, causing Samus to fall with little time to recuperate for the battle that ensued.

With its impressive wingspan, the dragon-like devil soared with great speed, nearly pushing the fighters off the platform with gales of wind. Once Ridley tired of safer maneuvers, his fire rained down upon the arena, but super missiles served as the rebuttal with shattering force. Pikachu distracted the dragon as it tried to spear the creature with its razor-edged tail while Samus used her Screw Attack to injure the boss. With a final charged beam, Ridley without the advantage of surprise anymore, was shot in his gaping maw, and he plummeted down the chamber in flames. Their search exhausted, the pair found their way out of the facility and into the welcoming rays of sunlight and contrasting ruins of the surface. However, a second building caught their eyes as two R.O.B.s carried a bomb into the structure.

Outside the ancient ruins of the island, Space Captain Olimar with scores of Pikmin of all varieties by his side had found himself on this, another distant planet. Several of the tiny creatures had perched themselves upon a colossal, sleeping R.O.B. effigy. That was true until the monument came to life, killing quite a few Pikmin in the process with its arm rotors. Then out of the blue, another captain from yet another world inexplicably speeded in his cruiser, ejected and fell the robot with one falcon punch to its wired cranium. With a flare and disregard to the lives of the Pikmin he smeared across the ruins, Captain Falcon made an entrance and quite an impression on Olimar. He decided to join the man in skin-tight purple clothes. After all, he was sort of stuck anyway and needed something to do.

Making their way through the heavenly place with ruins consumed by the succession of centuries, the two captains eventually reached an outlook that dropped into the abyssal blue sea below. Seeing a transport heading their way, Captain Falcon took the opportunity to grab Olimar and land perfectly on the skiff. Before this, Falco was a bit unhappy to have the chimpanzee stuffed in his one-seated Arwing and was glad to fly over and eject him to save his uncle. With his Rocketbarrel pack sustaining his flight, Diddy got his revenge with his dual peanut popgun pistols. With a slight tap, Donkey Kong was revived and broke free of the chains that held him back. Showing themselves as on the same team, the captains joined the Kongs to take on the forces of Subspace. After all were defeated, the group waited patiently as the skiff followed its predetermined path into the heart of the paradoxical island.

Making its purpose known, the Great Fox had served as a distraction during the skiff battle as it held off the mighty Halberd. The third model in the line (harkening back to the original form after the first was revamped and destroyed on the Aparoid homeworld and the second taking a drastic new design in the Anglar War) was armed with an enormous twin cannon that could devastate an armada. But the Halberd was an evil force to be reckoned with, its hundreds of guns penetrating the shields of the command ship of the Star Fox team. On the surface, Meta Knight, Ike, Marth, Lucas and Red observed the fight in awe. Two characters were not too interested however. The Knight spotted the Ice Climbers of athletic fame traversing the highest peak within eye's view. He decided to follow Popo and Nana but in his hurry surpassed the climbers with the help of his glide. Challenged, the Ice Climbers hurried along too as the Great Fox was losing the duel in the skies above the wastelands.

Minutes later, Meta Knight reached the summit of the glacial mountain with the Climbers right behind. Atop the very highest point was a Lucario, balancing one foot on an icy spike, the very tip of the peak, in silent meditation. This particular Pokémon was very strong and brimming with a life-force known as Aura. After his sacrifice with his master Sir Aaron to save the Tree of Beginning in another world and a mysterious life-changing encounter with Mew, this beast found himself alive once more and on pilgrimage in this new world. Insulted that his training be interrupted, he challenged the Knight across from him to a test of skill. Lucario was familiar with the ways of a sword while Meta Knight had never seen a fighting style like Lucario's before. Upon the Knight's trophification, Lucario pondered his revival and promptly did so, starting off on a better foot with the warrior this second time around.

With the truce solidified with a handshake, terror still struck as the Great Fox III broke through the storm clouds above, tethered by the main cannon of the Halberd. This ship smashed the Star Fox crew into the mountain, causing seismic tremors that knocked Popo and Nana off a cliff and down to the base of the mountain. As if the assault was not enough, the Halberd let millions of Shadow Bugs consume the peak, but Meta Knight and Lucario saw their chances to climb the Great Fox III to reach the evil's source. They were quick and gained entry while shadowy enemies challenged the swordsmen and remaining troop in the wastelands below. The five warriors: Mario, Yoshi, Kirby, Link and Pit were also eager for battle as they leaped into a nearby canyon, ready to lay waste to the Subspace Army that was gaining strength with every moment.

Shaken by all the commotion around him, the spy from another world finally revealed himself as Solid Snake, cloned soldier of fortune. It was time to continue the mission as Colonel Roy Campbell requested. All of the curiosities Snake faced as he battled were simply met with more questions; the soldier did not really understand what was going on at all. Sensing two approaching figures down one corridor, Snake hid himself behind a pillar under another convenient box. No fool and no slouch, Lucario noticed the oddly placed box and could easily see the Aura underneath it. Snake was shocked to be discovered and prepared to take part in some Close Quarters Combat with the weird creatures before him. Lucario halted the restless Snake and, sensing his positive Aura compared to that of the negative forces he was feeling as Primids marched behind them, invited the man to take part in the trashing that was to come.

The unlikely trio made their way to the prison cells of the Halberd on the way to the bridge. Inside the room were the two captured princesses, and Snake was now surprised to see beings that seemed to be of his own kind. The piranha plant insignias lay dully and ominously on their suspended cages, and Shadow Bugs immediately produced evil clones of the women for the triad to face. A mixture of lighting fast swordplay, steel-type Kenpo and explosives dispelled the shadowy figures quickly. Snake freed the princesses Peach and Zelda and urged them to stay in their cell to avoid any danger. The rescuers continued to make their way to the bridge.

Quite sick of captivity, the princesses decided now was not the time to take advice from their savior. From the era of the Hero of Time, Zelda once again transformed into the persona Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah tribe who were guardians of the Hylian Royal Family in her past. With her thieving skills, the two broke out, leaped and floated among the platforms of the exterior of the Halberd, finding their way to the bridge. In the skies above, Fox's Arwing was in a rematch with the myriad of guns of the battleship. It also succeeded in destroying the main cannon that had caused him trouble in the past. The rest of his crew had their hands full with immediate repairs to the hull of the Great Fox III in order to salvage any hope of them leaving the planet and returning home when all was over. Back down below and assuming the Arwing to be an enemy craft, Sheik leaped high into the air and landed gracefully upon the Arwing, landing a punch into the windshield. Now ejected and falling down to the Halberd, the two raced towards each other. Fox delivered a swift roundhouse while Sheik blocked, ready to strike back when Peach interrupted with a sign for peace…and tea? Obviously, an understanding had been reached, which amused and puzzled Fox.

Apart from the commotion below, the triad from before finally reached the controls, only to be met with numerous copies of the black one commanding the deck. Snake rushed in and launched the neutral figures out the window. Snake and Lucario followed to investigate while Meta Knight was finally satisfied with the long-awaited retrieval of his ship. On the main hull, these plain, black figures melted into a shadow weapon known as Duon, a balanced mech with two conjoined bodies: one of a melee style of attack and the other focused on projectile methods such as lasers and missiles. Falco rejoined the fight as he dropped from the sky, ready to aid the other five in the fight with Duon. The shadow machine was attacked from all sides with Snake, Fox and Falco blasting the leviathan's more vulnerable side while Lucario, Sheik and Peach dodged projectiles and caused the heat-seeking missiles to hit Duon itself.

Hard fought, the battle ended in a dissolution of shadow, a trophy of the black one remaining. Preferring a good talk against the offensive attitudes of the warriors, Peach awakened the black one and scolded him for his behavior. The newly named Mr. Game & Watch (because upon introductions, he mimicked the parasol-twirling of the princess in an animated style) had supposedly learned right from wrong for the first time in his plain existence and decided to join the band of fighters around him. Meta Knight, meanwhile, gladly grasped the wheel of his reclaimed Halberd and steered it from the miserable, red clouds of the day into the vast blue skies of what lay ahead.

Down below the hulk of the Halberd and above the Great Sea, the Subspace Bomb Factory's facilities were infiltrated on two ends. Below, the Kongs and the Captains had entered a hangar into which they crushed their way to the center. Above, Samus and Pikachu had entered the opening into the land, which led them to the same room in the center with all alarms blazing. Fully equipped, Samus Aran was past the point of subtlety. Expecting a confrontation unlike anything seen before, Samus blasted her way into the main storage room for the Subspace artillery. Instead, the two found the Ancient Minister, backed by scores of R.O.B. units and showing no signs of struggle or a refusal to flee. The other four also broke through to happen upon the seemingly depressed Minster.

Unexpectedly breaking the silence was a transmission from the King of Evil Ganondorf. Shocked, the Minister's confusion was obvious as Ganondorf ordered all R.O.B.s to start the countdowns on dozens of bombs. Unwilling to let this happen, the Minister prevented some of his buddies from committing their pending suicide. Ganondorf had had enough of the robot master's reluctance and overrode the circuits of the other R.O.B.s, producing an overload that caused all robots to fire their beams at their master, the Ancient Minister. Failing his mission, disgraced and set ablaze, the Minister shed his holy robes to reveal to the surprise of the rest that he was the leader of all R.O.B.s, just like them a Robotic Operating Buddy himself. Ganondorf, laughing maniacally to himself, ended his holographic communication by disappearing in a swarm of auroros to further dishearten the heroes.

Making quick work of that flock accomplished naught for distressed R.O.B. as he tried to relate with his friends who were all about to perish. Samus tried to grapple beam the robots from ensuring the countdown as Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon attempted with brute force, but all proved useless. The only thing left to do was escape if they could. Captain Falcon called for help and urged his new comrades to follow. Only a few minutes remained before the Island of the Ancients was swallowed by the largest maw of Subspace.

Knowing the underground tunnels kept going further beneath the facilities, the group rushed through to the bottom. When the final descent was made, Captain Falcon called his trusty Falcon Flyer just in the nick of time. Everyone landed safely, but the seven were not out of danger yet. Stalking his archenemy as always, even after apparent death, Meta Ridley, a cybernetically enhanced version of the former, shocked the troop as it blistered through the channels of the underground Subspace Bomb Factory in pursuit of the Falcon Flyer. With Pikmin and beam projectiles, flaming fists and bulging arms combined, Meta Ridley was yet again a burning heap, now being sucked into Subspace, as the Falcon Flyer dashed past the bomb radius and the vicinity of the now invisible Island, barely escaping Subspace's dark and shadowy clutches.

On the shore stood eleven of the heroes who had defeated the evil forces that plagued the country. They looked to the horizon as the Halberd and Falcon Flyer landed before them. And thus, the Great Reunion began. A natural leader, Fox McCloud consolidated those before him with little effort necessary. Those who were only the least bit skeptical annoyed a grateful Donkey Kong who looked up to the Fox for saving him. The troops of warriors had faced trials and tribulations like nothing ever before experienced. And they had done it all together through courageous acts of selflessness, heroism, acceptance and sacrifice to reach the juncture in their journeys in which they all finally met. At this council the big ape, who was grateful to Fox beyond measure, intimidated with his bulk anyone who had questions about the Fox's leadership. All was settled, and the heroes hatched a plan. Since Samus and Olimar had called their ships to the mainland before the explosion, her Hunter Gunship, his Hocotate Rocket, the Halberd, the Falcon Flyer and one final Arwing were all at the team's disposal for the final assault. For they could think of nothing more to do but pilot into the depths of Subspace itself and challenge the source of all this evil.

From the vast area that was once the Island of the Ancients, the ultimate weapon of the Subspace army emerged. The Subspace Gunship protruded from the void, miles long, with a settlement with encampments along its hulk that housed soldiers, evil creatures that could not wait any longer to infest the lands and turn them into hellish places. Atop the command platform stood the two evil kings: Ganondorf the divine thief and Bowser the fiery monarch. Ganondorf, with his dark magic, commanded the colossal ship's main cannon to fire. The purple ray of death engulfed what was left of Nintendia in emptiness. The heroes were already on their way however and were spotted by Ganondorf with contempt in his eyes. The five main batteries were ordered to shoot the Halberd down as it was no longer necessary in the master plan. The Halberd made it far and was grazed by multiple laser blasts as it sped through a blue expanse over a calm ocean. Then, Meta Knight's flagship was pierced right through the center. The craft was ablaze, snapped in two and was obliterated in a fiery explosion. Ganondorf's sick countenance turned from resolution to shock when the heroes flew out of the Halberd's fires and closer to the Subspace Gunship. Bowser frustratedly commanded along with Ganondorf that the heroes be killed at once, causing all weapons of the mammoth ship to activate and home in on the heroes.

The excellent skill of the pilots outmatched the vaporizing blasts of energy that flew by the heroes, most of whom resided in the Falcon Flyer and Hocotate rocket, which was keeping low due to some rusty malfunctions. The sole Arwing was undoubtedly piloted by the fearless Fox. Diddy was there too, but Fox did not mind as Falco had before; the bond between them was now even stronger than ever. Those who shared unshakable warrior's creeds, the Emblem swordsmen and the FOXHOUND soldier, found themselves in the expert care of Samus and her ship. The denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, Eagleland and the heavens became fast friends with Olimar and acquainted with his easy-going manner and resided there. Captain Falcon escorted the remainder of the crew, which included the final resident of the Kong Islands, all Pokémon, Falco bereft of his Arwing and the still mysterious oddballs of the group: R.O.B., the Ice Climbers and Mr. Game & Watch. They continued onward through the relentless attacks.

As the front between good and evil was becoming thinner, a fifth ship soared from above and sliced through the hull of the Subspace Gunship, cutting through the silver metal as it were air just the same. The pilot of the dragoon, Kirby, succeeded in his mission while Bowser and Ganondorf retreated back into the depths of Subspace as a response. The Arwing and Flyer were the first vehicles to enter the void followed by the Hunter Gunship and Dragoon close behind. The Hocotate Rocket sputtered fumes as the mess entered Subspace, leaving behind the monstrous ruin that was once the ultimate weapon of the Subspace army, now engulfed in fire and destruction.

The inside of Subspace was unexplainable. Upon exiting their crafts, the heroes were assaulted with feelings of emptiness, noises of unfathomable eeriness and environments so bleak yet fantastical it was as if the ground melded with the sky to form an inescapable void. The sphere they had entered was merely a portal to the haunting, hellish nightmare that was the realm of Subspace. The heroes gathered silently as they prepared their bodies, minds and spirits for the horrors that would surely lie ahead. Kirby, Zelda, Pit, Mario, Diddy, Fox, Lucas, Red, Squirtle, Marth, Meta Knight, Ike, Link, Yoshi, Samus, Pikachu, Ivysaur, Charizard, Falco, Olimar, Capt. Falcon, Popo, Nana, Lucario, Snake, Peach, Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B. all rushed forward to meet their destiny.

Meanwhile, Ganondorf and Bowser had reached a precipice that, known only to Ganondorf, was where the Master Hand could be reached. Bowser was stomping angrily ahead, so Ganondorf took his chance at mutiny and turned the Koopa King into a trophy. The King of Evil kicked the defeated pawn out of his way and made his appeal to the Master Hand. When the God appeared, Ganondorf noticed something strange: the chains of light! He laid his eyes on Tabuu who was encased in some sort of shield. Master Hand looked to Ganondorf and pled with his gestures of pure horror and torture; the God was reaching for something that was unreachable. Spurred on by this trickery, Ganondorf leaped into the air for an attack but fell down as a trophy just as fast upon his defeat. This freed Master Hand from the chains of light, leaving bloody wounds where they had conjoined at his knuckles. Enraged and relieved altogether, the God of control launched into battle with the ruler of Subspace with a mighty punch. All Tabuu had merely do was nothing, and the Master Hand was repulsed back to the cliff. The God was seized with pain and agony and lay dead where he had landed. The heroes had seen this conflict in the distance and approached Tabuu, challenging him to a duel. Tabuu then sent them mysterious off-waves that turned everyone into lifeless trophies instantly. The blast also scattered the trophified corpses throughout Subspace, effectively defeating all heroes. Hope seemed lost as Tabuu's master plan neared completion. To further consecrate his victory, he surrounded himself with a Great Maze of the stolen lands of Nintendia that were now his in the vastness of Subspace.

But there was hope; the Dedede brooches revived Luigi and Ness in the ruined halls of the penguin king's castle. Unaware of their surroundings and with only the badges as clues, Ness and Luigi decided to revive the king that seemed to have saved them. Overjoyed, King Dedede embraced his two new companions. Assuming the worst had already happened, the King urged his fellows to see what they could accomplish outside the castle and in the realm of darkness. After freeing the likes of near half of the fallen heroes, Dedede reluctantly revived Bowser. He almost immediately raised his hammer in battle though as the disgruntled Bowser roared with ferocity into it as well. This hard fight was fought in the presence of the deceased Master Hand, and Dedede only barely won. Upon his second revival, Bowser was directed towards the Master Hand's present state and was told that the true enemy awaited in the midst of the Great Maze above. The awoken heroes began to congregate at the cliff where they had initially fallen.

Far away from there, Kirby had also been awoken to his destiny since the unpleasant-tasting brooch did its job, still in Kirby's stomach. The hero spit it out promptly and hurried on to save the remaining chosen ones. After everyone had been rescued, Kirby saw Dedede for the first time in this new, strange land. Quite a change of pace, Dedede ran to hug Kirby and relished in a familiar face. Meanwhile, the bearers of the Triforce of Courage and Triforce of Wisdom had to choose whether or not the bearer of the Triforce of Power be awoken from his slumber. Link and Zelda, confident in their abilities to persuade, revived Ganondorf and explained the nature of the true enemy. As unwilling as Bowser, Ganondorf reluctantly put aside his grievances for the greater good for once. Just before, Kirby had even saved Wario who became as obnoxious as always. After getting his payback on Dedede by knocking him to the ground, Wario was astonished to see the monarch helped up by Luigi and Ness. Being directed as well to the true enemy, Wario grabbed up his motorcycle which had happened to be swept over to the cliff in the chaos. A staircase to the Great Maze was beckoning the thirty-five legends, serving as an invitation to chaos that Tabuu was surely ready to dish out.

Inside the Great Maze was even more disorienting than Subspace itself. Although the environments and terrains proved familiar, they all conformed together separated by tears in the heavens, really rifts of Subspace. The heroes relived every trial and tribulation as they had in the past in Nintendia since all bosses were somehow resurrected. Petey Piranha, Rayquaza, Porky, Galleom, Ridley, Duon and Meta Ridley all struck back with a vengeance only to be bested by the now unified group of heroes. Exploring the stolen colonies seemed to last for eternity as each hero was confronted with a new kind of dark clone of himself or herself. These were unlike the shadowy originals of before as these phantoms seemed to be comprised of pure Subspace. One was lost in looking into its dark soul, and the duels were hard fought and always isolated from the rest of the group. The clones mirrored the techniques of the smashers, but the copies always lost. Once they were all dispelled by their respective fighters, it was time to face the menace himself, the corrupted ruler of Subspace.

Finding themselves at the core of the maze, the heroes were ready to face Tabuu. Trophies of all the evils they had faced once again melted away into darkness, clearing the way open to the door of absolution that held inside their final destination. Along with the thirty-five heroes brave, someone rather late to the party speeded on through the door before it closed forever. Tabuu, satisfied with the misery of the heroes, prepared his off-waves again, but suddenly a blue bur shattered the left and right wings of the fallen angel, diminishing his powers exponentially. Instant death was no longer an option as Tabuu glared at Sonic the Hedgehog with contempt as the speedster mockingly scolded the humanoid, blue phantom for his misdeeds. Subspace had begun to leak into Sonic's world too, and nothing was going to hold him back along with his followers from executing the Subspace God.

Although he was severely outnumbered by the beings of light, Tabuu showed his unlimited strength as he drew from the pools of darkness and shadow. Evil personified, he assaulted the gang with intense attacks. He was everywhere and nowhere at the same time as the heroes became disoriented by their surroundings. The first phase of the battle began with seemingly random teleportation that left explosions in the wake. Preserving some of the group in preparation for the long battle ahead was necessary as Fox worked out a strategy for the rest of the team, and the first wave of heroes confronted Tabuu. Wielding their hammers into the air, the Ice Climbers bounced off Mr. Game & Watch's trampoline to smack the dark entity. R.O.B. shot his lasers at the God, finally relishing in avenging his fallen brothers. Running out of Pikmin, Olimar was caught off-guard next when Tabuu transformed into golden energy brackets that sent the captain flying. Solid Snake brought the attention back to the main battlefield with rocket-launched projectiles that infuriated the God. With a decisive flaming kick, Captain Falcon knocked Tabuu senselessly into Yoshi's maw. Spitting out the repulsiveness, Yoshi breathed blue fire and sprouted wings to avoid Tabuu who dived and slashed the air where the dragon had been. Wario served as a distraction while Pit readied aim with Palutena's bow. An arrow of light pierced Tabuu's cranium, prompting him to transform into a shark-like blade that set course for the angel. Palutena called out to him, gifting him with the power of flight once more so that Pit could dodge the attacks of the merciless Tabuu.

Tabuu grew much more aggressive in the second phase of battle and sent spectral imprints of himself into the fray to deal with a new wave of fighters. Royal princesses of Mushroom and Hyrule, Peach and Zelda used their inherent magical abilities to drain Tabuu's power. Before transforming into the more nimble Sheik once more, Zelda unleashed the spells of the golden goddesses upon Tabuu. The God responded with a myriad of scattered explosions that sent Red the trainer flying upwards. Charizard caught his master in his arms and flew with him into battle, releasing both Squirtle and Ivysaur into the fray. Red was overwhelmed with his Pokémon and their loyalties displayed toward him. The Pikachu charged an electrical storm, one that was largely ineffective against Tabuu who used special orbs to protect himself from these attacks. Caught surprised by PK Starstorm summoned by Lucas, Tabuu ferociously warped and slashed the boy with his bare hands. Diddy was in the air again shooting from above when Ike released his friend from Tabuu's attacks with Great Aether. This only enraged Tabuu further, and the God stuck his chain of light through Ike's chest and proceeded to whip him around the battle grounds, smashing him upon the floor. Sheik covered the critically injured friend with her arsenal of light arrows, one of which pierced the heart of Tabuu, returning the favor. This group retreated as Red's starters obliterated Tabuu with a Triple Finish.

The third set of Tabuu's moves proved to be even more lethal than before. Tabuu rained bullets down upon the three kings who were formerly the pawns in his scheme. Tabuu had grown tired of this relentless fight, and he no longer had use for the denizens of light even if they embraced the shadow. What Tabuu did not count on however was how powerful the three became. King Dedede grew larger, absorbed with his anger, and placed his spiked, metal mask upon his face to strike fear. While Tabuu did not waver at this, the mechanized strikes of Masked Dedede's mallet proved something more. King Ganondorf also underwent a gruesome transformation into the Pig Beast Ganon. The boar charged into Tabuu's body and stuck its fearsome tusks into the being of darkness. No longer containing his devilish form either, a form the Master Hand had once bestowed upon him, King Bowser's eyes shone a bright white as his already massive height quadrupled. The snarling monster Giga Bowser engulfed Tabuu in despairing flames as Bowser was warranted to lose control on his foe. While trying to suppress the three kings, Tabuu focused his onslaught on the smaller adversaries which included Lucario. As Lucario was subjected to more and more torment, the Aura within him grew until he was able to let loose the most powerful of Aura spheres, propelling Tabuu into the psychic grasp of Ness who used psychokinesis to send his foe flying into Kirby's mouth. Now, both original and copy let loose shuriken boomerangs, cancelling each other out in a flurry of razors. As the three kings began to shrink back to normal, both Meta Knight and Falco kept up the assault with aerial maneuvers such as the Mach Tornado and Fire Bird. Taking up Luigi and Marth in his still massive claws, Bowser threw the heroes into Tabuu's vicinity, landing a well-placed stomp and critical hit on the God respectively. Pushed to the brink of death, Tabuu held nothing back and turned into an enormous Dragon Laser which, when fired, knocked the majority of the Smash troupe into submission.

Only six fighters remained fresh and conscious enough to wage war against the ultimate evil in this, their final battle. Now it was Tabuu that grew to epic proportions, his empty eyes staring down at the naïve fools who opposed him. First, Donkey Kong used all his strength and girth to try to bring the Subspace God down to the heroes' level, but it was no use. Tabuu shot red hot beams from his eyes, singeing the ape's fur and causing the remainder to momentarily retreat. Ready to match his laser power, Samus put her Varia Suit into critical condition to unleash the Zero Laser, the most powerful weapon in her arsenal. Tabuu's head was blown to smithereens of Tabuu phantoms. This was at the cost of her armor, but Zero Suit Samus managed to slide by what came next. The true enemy, now finished with his deception, grew back his majestic wings and with one extension of them sent three off-waves in rapid succession into the field of his adversaries. Lightning-quick reflexes enabled the final heroes to dodge the onslaught until they were able to continue their rebuttal. Mario set forth the fires within himself raining down upon Tabuu and setting him ablaze. The Hero of Time Link pointed his Master Sword skyward, gaining the goddess's blessing for the torrent of slashes that were to be bequeathed upon evil. The Master Sword was not Tabuu's fatal bane however. This supernatural being was above all mortal instruments, even those crafted by the Gods of old. Tabuu was a new God and the supreme one as he cast aside the courageous heroes in a rage. Tabuu's ultimate potential was unlocked, and this God was bringing all the worlds in Subspace to collapse upon themselves, throwing the battle into carnage, chaos and insanity. As the universe was falling in on itself, Fox made a desperate measure and called the new model Landmaster. Communication was possibly augmented by the worlds' convergence, and his team sent him what he had asked for: a tank to finish Tabuu off for good. Fox's skill made the machine into a weapon as it dodged Tabuu's flurry of attacks, locked on to his elusive body and sent forth a monumental laser that crippled Subspace's ruler. Taking this chance but with unknown risk, Sonic used the seven precious Chaos Emeralds he had brought with him to transform himself into a god all his own: Super Sonic! Disregarding what may have happened to the amazing jewels, the golden Super Sonic moved with a flash and went right through Tabuu who had teleported an instant before. The Gods of Light and Dark now circled around the other, chasing each other down, elusively avoiding the other. Super Sonic had to take the last chance as his invincibility would not last much longer. After warping light years away with Chaos Control, Super Sonic built up speed for the final blow, breaking the barriers of sound, light, time and space. What did it matter anymore anyway? As all worlds suffered damnation, Super Sonic sped through them all, screaming with utmost rage and hatred against the supreme evil of the universe. Tabuu anticipated nothing when this God of Light, one of all creatures, tore right through his very soul. Tabuu, God of Subspace, let out one final cry as his mass deteriorated into the darkness and the shadow.

And thus, what had seemed irreversible became undone as the lands taken by Subspace returned to their former states, free of the darkness and the evil they had fostered. The heroes united found themselves gathered on a cliff outstanding, one none of them had ever seen before. The World had returned to its intended glory, free from the threat and evil intention of Tabuu. The living legends looked out to the sea as the final Subspace void disappeared, leaving a shining X behind where the Island of the Ancients had been. This symbol of hope for the future stirred the heroes' spirits as they gazed upon the golden-hued World, gifted with heavenly sunlight. And on this fateful day, the heroes admired the horizon together, regardless of any animosity or misunderstanding of the past. Assuming they had seen all the universe had to offer, they were unaware of still a great many things such as another Link, of a different yet interlocked reality, who sailed the Great Sea before them in a separate timeline, the life and culture that continued on unaffected by the cataclysm avoided as a trainer chose a Jigglypuff in her next battle, and how conflicted beings like Wolf O'Donnell roamed far-away planets and hunted a bounty while avoiding his own hit in trying to find meaning and purpose throughout the Lylat System. Needless to say, nothing was impossible now; the day that went by unnoticed by all life except that of the heroes would prove crucial to the further protection, conservation and salvation of the universe.

Audi famam illius.

Solus in hostes ruit

et patriam servavit.

Audi famam illius.

Cucurrit quaeque

tetigit destruens.

Audi famam illius.

Audi famam illius.

Spes omnibus, mihi quoque.

Terror omnibus, mihi quoque.

Ille

iuxta me.

Ille iuxta me.

Socii sunt mihi,

qui olim viri fortes

rivalesque erant.

Saeve certando pugnandoque

splendor crescit.

The sun set, and the full moon rose into the sky. Only Bowser and Ganondorf had set off on their journeys to return to their homelands at this point. Everyone else enjoyed fellowship; the heroes were forming bonds of friendship that grew stronger by every passing compliment, every relatable tidbit and every new fact or opinion voiced by someone about their native territory. All learned about different ways of life, and through countless hours' conversation it was unanimously decided that these ways should be preserved for the greater good in the best way possible. And what better way than to join forces permanently? The undisputed leader was Fox McCloud, and he called a conference to order that was to establish Nintendo, a union of the most dedicated heroes that were to be named after the land they fought so hard to protect. Everyone was also unanimous on the name and idea. Several of the heroes had previously worked together before, and as long as the team stayed grounded by the traits and ideals that bound them together, there seemed to be no foreseeable drawbacks to what they were proposing. And thus in this year of beginning, Nintendo was born as a force for good, one of light and one of never giving up even against all odds. They continued to talk of many things such as recruitment, limitations on membership but most importantly consolidating a headquarters that would be universal and convenient enough for the members to maintain communication or even lodging when necessary. It was proposed that the base be able to freely roam the cosmos, accommodate all members and serve as an impenetrable fortress in which it would be safe to rest, plan and train. The ambitious team would later find the best architects, artists and builders in the galaxy to create what they called the Pillar. As the sun began to rise after the night's restless planning, Nintendo promised to stay connected, but for the time being, left the cliff overlooking the sea to embark on new adventures while the morning breeze gave them all new chills of excitement. This is what they all lived for, a life to love and friends to share it with. The free spirits, legends among the land, went to get some rest before their next adventure that would surely beckon them when they awoke.

I've heard legends of that person.

How he plunged into enemy territory

How he saved his homeland.

I've heard legends of that person.

How he traveled the breadth of the land

Reducing all he touched to rubble.

I've heard legends of that person.

I've heard legends of that person.

Revered by many - I, too, revere him.

Feared by many - I, too, fear him.

Now, that person

Stands at my side.

Now that person stands at my side.

Now my friends are with me.

Some of them were once heroes

Some, my mortal enemies.

And as we face each other in battle, locked in combat

We shine ever brighter.

Everyone followed through. In the time that followed, every hero got back in touch with Fox, and this dream became reality. The Pillar was erected, a 100-story monument that was testament to the strength of the team, and was launched into the depths of space. In theory, it would never land permanently again. Members of Nintendo called it their home away from home. Some even called it home. Whenever the time came that the balance in the universe be significantly threatened, the heroes pulled together and found a solution. In time, the organization grew a lot. More heroes were added to the roster, hundreds even. There was a full staff added too for every industry that was necessary to self-sustain. Simple folk inspired by their heroes agreed to join to do whatever they could to help, even if it was making meals, cleaning house, preparing facilities, teaching classes for the youngsters or providing advice. Time passed some more, and the Pillar eventually became ultimately self-sufficient. The beings that resided there visited more frequently and with the passing of their lives, most found permanent refuge there. Many of our heroes became weary after saving nations, worlds, dimensions and even galaxies on countless occasions. To some of them, this place was a fortress of solidarity, where everything could be counted on to be kept constant in a universe that did not agree at all with the notion. In the Pillar of Nintendo, they resided, fought when needed, and returned there to rest once more, every time their bodies, minds and souls made wearier and further tested.

Seven years have passed since the integral day in time in which it was decided that Nintendo become truth. In this time, Nintendo had fought many more battles and thwarted many more evils. Sonic's final blow to Tabuu was showing its universe-altering effects as space and time on Trinity became blurred, melding the histories of Hyrule and the Fire Emblem continents all into one mix of the present. Everyone's age was showing as their adventures seemed to be coming to a close. However, many villains' whereabouts were still unknown after all this time, and the heroes sensed an ominous cloud brewing above their heads. It was brewing in the center of the universe. They just could not see it yet. After the cataclysmic black hole that appeared months prior to the Subspace Emissary escapade and Bowser's second attempt at creating an empire there, the center of the universe became a desolate place and a shadow of its former glory. It was reset and relatively empty but nonetheless beckoned a certain type of evil. In the seven years since his destruction, unknown to all, Tabuu was alive and secretly gaining power in the blackness of space, somewhere he thrived just as well. Only his soul had survived, but that was enough for the former ruler of Subspace. He was unexplainably more powerful than ever before and had concocted another plan that was far more deadly than his original. This time he was not going to count on anyone else, and he was going to expect resistance. The thought of the future heroes' efforts proving futile gave him all the strength he needed in the depths of the cosmos to finally steal both space and time!

Tabuu, evil incarnate, was going to steal all the space-time pockets in existence in which the heroes defeated their foes both before and after his supposed death in Subspace. He then would insert himself in those worlds, remove the protagonists and hold every maze of his in limbo unless the present heroes go back and fix them, repeating the past exactly as it was intended. Hundreds, thousands, of these pockets swarmed around Tabuu Soul, making for The Greatest Maze in the universe. While the present was left unaltered momentarily, the heroes would have to act fast and in a year's time, restore every lost world and defeat Tabuu Soul. If the heroes failed, it would mean the end of the universe. Tabuu Soul was his own ticking time bomb and if not defused in time, he would implode, eliminating all existence and wiping out what was done by the One God an eternity ago in the Explosion of Creation.

Tabuu Soul's sinister evil was felt in the hearts and minds of the entire universe in this dimension as his telepathy knew no bounds. At end's beginning, the call reached not only our heroes but also all life, throwing the universe and its denizens into unparalleled panic. Never before had our heroes felt so outmatched and unprepared. Nintendo knew it was up to them to save all things, and Day One was the only place to start. And as legends sought to repeat themselves through Tabuu Soul's sinister plot, the evils of the present rose up from the ashes as well, wanting to leave an impression of destruction and despair before Game's End. This is the story of our heroes, the living legends, and how they plunged themselves into the darkness to save the light. All life was in their hands, and only Nintendo could carry that burden. The battle for the universe was to begin, writing its own bloody history, a tragic legend of good and of evil. The timer began ticking…


	2. Chapter I: Adam's Mask

**Parables of Power**

 _Chapter I – Adam's Mask_

The heroes were reliving their pasts and battling the present, faced with an ever uncertain future. In the first few months that followed the beginning of Countdown, relatively few mazes were dissolved in the focal point that was the center of the universe. Time was pressing our heroes return to their pasts under the leadership of Fox McCloud and the inspirational position of the prophet of the future, Silver the Hedgehog. This optimistic creature had joined forces with Nintendo a few years earlier and brought hope from a time which he could foresee was seemingly blessed with happiness.

His position in this time however was even more necessary than giving hope. By honing his psychokinetic and telepathic powers over the years with the help of his partner, Blaze the Cat, Silver had become one of the most powerful beings in the universe as a mere young adult. His strength was needed whenever The Greatest Maze became unstable and threatened its collapse which would theoretically cause a universal supernova, a cataclysm that would make all efforts to thwart Tabuu Soul of no use. As he was able to maintain his body and mind in the depths of space, Silver was the only one who could contain this cosmic leviathan of space-time.

And in the first month of Countdown, most heroes kept themselves busy as they were piloted and ushered into their past worlds. To begin everything, Solid Snake was ushered into his past of his father, the Big Boss, as the Naked Snake. His mission to avoid nuclear disaster, destroy the Shagohod and assassinate The Boss was successful. The triplets Solid, Liquid and Solidus were created from his blood once again. Privy to the old threats to the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, Luigi and co. were forced to relive the repeated kidnappings of Princess Toadstool in the Mushroom Kingdom due to the later exploits of Bowser, his favorite son and the seven Koopalings. Link of the Era of Decline in Hyrule was successful yet again in preventing the resurrection of Ganon and in reviving Princess Zelda I. Samus Aran also prevailed in her mission to eradicate the Metroids in their homeworld, SR-388. Kirby and friends were also called upon to end King Dedede's greedy pursuits and Dark Matter's evil designs for Dreamland yet again on a few occasions. The humble beginnings of Pokémon trainers from all regions including Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos were heightened as the young men and women battled against the organized crime on their World of Pokémon. Ninten and his gang of heroes put an end to the first invasion of Giygas who had invaded Trinity with his mind-controlling band of aliens of another world in an attempt at revenge against the human race who had stolen the mystical powers of PSI. Even the unlikely Captain Olimar escaped from the Distant Planet once more after his Pikmin friends helped him defeat the dreaded Emperor Bulblax. Pit of Palutena's Royal Guard again navigated the depths of the Underworld to emerge, obtain the Three Sacred Treasures, defeat Medusa and save the Goddess of Light. In this time, some schemes of the relentless mad scientists Dr. Ivo Robotnik and Dr. Albert Wily were thwarted again by the blue blur and blue bomber. Some forces of good from all over the universe were also transported by Tabuu Soul unwillingly and unknowingly into these mazes for his amusement. Never, however, did these heroes return without dissolving an obstacle that was theirs in the center of the universe.

Meanwhile, chaos was everywhere; it could not be escaped. The year prior to Countdown was full of brimstone, but the anarchy caused by the acknowledgment of a doomed universe was plunging countless hearts into darkness. It was happening on Trinity, Corneria, Pop Star, Mobius, the World of Pokémon, this dimension's Earth and the Earth in the shadows. The lands of Hyrule, Lorule, Termina, Katina, Fichina, Aquas, Dreamland, Eagleland, the Fire Emblem continents, Norion, the Mushroom Kingdom, the land of Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong Country and the Underworlds among countless others all succumbed to a revolution. All of them were unlikely in affirming anything positive however. Rioting, killing and thieving became all the more prevalent among all creatures as hope diminished with time. Many creatures were none too optimistic about the plight they faced and had little hope for a heroic victory. All living things were resorting to what they had left and what they were made of, good or bad.

Of all living beings of all lands, the peoples of Hyrule were in the most peculiar of situations. Over the millennia of the epics fought amongst the spirit of the hero, the blood of the goddess and the hatred personified for the Gods, time grew to know no limits and three alternate realities existed as one in the same space on this continent on Trinity. Not much is known of the paradox except that it made possible for every reincarnation of the Hero of Time and Descendent of the Goddess to be at the ready for Nintendo's cause.

Originating from a different era completely, these strangers were welcomed into the fantastic fortress that was the Pillar. Even a replica of Hyrule Castle's interior walls was integrated into the new home for these heroes. Along with those clad in green and in whose veins ran the blood of the ancient Hylia, all nations' heroes rose together to tackle the challenge that was The Greatest Maze, ready to mobilize their full strength behind their undisputed leader, Fox McCloud.

As things were already running a little too slow, Fox was stressed beyond imagination about the immensity of the task on his shoulders. He loved his wife and son to death, but their attempts to ease the burden on his shoulders always proved futile. He would often look to the main parlor for inspiration…reassurance, anything really. There a picture of his father James McCloud set perfectly, nestled in between a portrait of Princess Ruto, the Sage who had lost her life in the execution of Ganondorf, and a chance shot of Galactic Federation commander Adam Malkovich who lost his life in an attempt to destroy Sector Zero, what was originally thought to be the final nesting place for the infernal Metroid creatures. (There were others who had been loved here by Nintendo but pictures oftentimes proved elusive or unobtainable as with Tippi's gallery residing at Fort Francis far away in the Bitlands or the lost opportunities incurred with the murder of Tails' parents so long before.)

Throughout his entire life, Fox had wondered about the fleeting mystery of his father's passing at the hands of Andross and his activities in the afterlife. After all, Fox could have sworn that his dad was always there for him when he needed him most; James McCloud led his son through a fiery base on the planet Venom, gave him advice during the assault on the Aparoids and fought alongside him mysteriously invisible to others in the Venom seas during the onslaught against the Anglar Empire. Fox surmised this meant that his father, a figment of his imagination or at least a ghost would come to him, but to Fox's disappointment and dismay, the precious days wore on and nothing came to him.

Unfortunately for Fox, there was a ghost that was coming to him, recurring often in his nightmares of the past. It was Andross. It was natural for Fox to dream of his first major exploit as a pilot for hire, but now it seemed as if his nemesis himself was forcing Fox to dream and to fail. Whenever Fox finally made it to Venom's core to face off with that maniacal ape, he was shot down. He never won, the terror of failing the Lylat System waking him up from his slumber every time.

And every time Krystal was there to comfort him, to hold her Fox in her arms, but she could not sit back any longer and watch her husband suffer. One night, after one week of the Countdown she proclaimed assuredly:

"Fox, I can't see you like this anymore. I love you and so does everyone else. You're obviously much too important to lose to something as petty as a bad dream…. This time I'm going with you, and this time we're going to win."

Fox was tired and sulking. He really did not understand his wife's words at all.

"What do you mean? I thought you could only read minds and sense emotion. Now you can follow me in my dreams too? How come I haven't been aware of this for the two decades we've been together?"

"Because I've just been recently experimenting on your mind for the past few nights now, and I think I can provide you with a little encouragement in your dream state. I hope you pardon my not asking."

"Of course, my mind has no privacy anyway," smirked McCloud. "But I haven't seen you the past few nights, in my dreams I mean; everything's just getting worse."

"Well, that's not how it works, silly."

Fox failed to see the humor in this situation.

"I can only speak to you telepathically through your brain while I get to see everything you see without appearing in your dream at all. Didn't you hear me calling to you last night?"

"Oh, so that was you screaming my name like an idiot when I was getting eaten by that monkey?"

"Yes…you know I don't have to help you after all," said Krystal as she pretended to shrug off her initial proposition.

"I'm only joking, Krystal, but that is the only thing that's felt different in my dream at all. If you think it will help, I definitely believe in your ability to pull me through. You've helped me through so much, really, and a lot worse than this. For that, Krystal, I'll be grateful forever."

"Oh, Fox. You know I would do anything for you. Now, get to sleep, so we can purge your mind of what's troubling you!"

"Alright," uttered Fox in his first glimpse of hope in days.

And with that, husband and wife fell into sleep's mercy only to face the most genius of minds, the Evil Mad Scientist, the self-proclaimed Emperor Andross. Fox navigated once again the depths of space as he and his teammates fought to resolve the Lylat Wars.

Inevitably, Fox found himself alone in the core of the planet Venom, facing his nemesis once more. Fox fought valiantly against the madman, the murderer of his parents and the ultimate terrorist of the Lylat System. The taunts of Andross haunted his mind, plaguing his entire being. Fox felt the forthcoming weight of failure again on his mind as he was entrapped by the myriad of tentacles underneath Andross's mighty cerebellum. The Arwing was being seared by the brain power that coursed within.

Krystal urged Fox not to give up, and with all the will he could muster and the remaining firepower the Arwing retained, Fox finished his foe. In the fiery explosion that inevitably followed, Fox could see his father nowhere, but Krystal's words where all he needed to find his way through the underground path that led Fox to victory and finally relief as he awoke. Fox thanked his wife, much to her modesty.

"Well, you definitely did all the hard work, Fox. I'm just glad that I could help you."

The partners embraced each other, now ready to start the next year off on a rock-solid foundation consecrated with their love and teamwork. These things remained constant throughout the heroes' adventures during Countdown, but many significant changes occurred on track to one of the most devastating cataclysms the inhabited universe had seen thus far: Majora's Perfect Chaos.

With all chaos comes hearts in torment, and the core that pumped Doom's blood throughout Shadow the Hedgehog was aching, empty and without a purpose. Ever since he regained the memories of his past, Shadow had lived the life of a recluse, living and breathing yes, but never feeling. He had thrown away his past long ago and fought for the humans and creatures alike that his friend Maria wanted so desperately to be happy. Otherwise, he forced himself never to think of her; he did not want to feel again.

 **It was a soul-selling arrangement, the kind you seal with blood. In this case, that was seriously true as Gerald Robotnik dealt with the devil in Black Doom, a demonic alien he had come into contact with while on his state-of-the-art space station, the first space colony orbiting the planet Mobius. At this fateful time over fifty years ago, Gerald was seeking to create the ultimate life form, also the ultimate ego-satisfying goal and experiment, at least that was what it appeared to the masses down below on the surface. His pursuit to create the ultimate life form was to find a cure, namely for Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the disease his granddaughter had contracted after she was born and raised aboard the space colony. He had recently begun work on the Biolizard, prototype of the ultimate life, but stumbling upon Doom's proposition, he found this opportunity much more promising.**

 **For reasons privy to the ancients on his home planet of Mobius, Gerald had chosen the hedgehog as the model for this ultimate life. He did eventually fail with the much larger prototype: the Biolizard, an artificial version of a fabled chaotic being. This time Gerald thought simple and requested this alien's help, mainly its blood to superpower his new creation, Shadow, with the abilities to withstand insane amounts of pain and torrent to the point of being basically immortal and fathomably indestructible. Thus, Shadow the Hedgehog was born but at a price, for Gerald made a promise to Black Doom that he, himself, would never get the chance to repay.**

 **Now in the only form he would ever know, Shadow was staring blankly into an unfeeling world, one that he did not understand nor would understand even after his birth. The Space Colony ARK was a lowly, lonely place for Shadow until he met the professor's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik. She was much different from the scientists and researchers in their pressed lab coats and sheen glasses. Maria had personality and a capacity to care for all creatures, eternally optimistic despite being knowledgeable of her terminal illness and inevitable demise.**

 **Naturally, Shadow was drawn to this outgoing, young girl, and they became fast friends, the best of friends even. Shadow would often lead her in speedy tours around the ARK, she always struggling in laughter to keep up with the hedgehog who was also going nowhere near as fast as he knew he could. Shadow often felt like who could never reach his full potential if he was always stuck in this crammed space station. That was something they had undeniably in common too: the unrelenting desire to set foot on the beautiful mass of rock they could always see beneath their feet.**

 **As such, Shadow often wondered too what was on the big, blue planet he saw beneath him through the transparent glass floors of the ARK's main viewing platform. One day, Maria told him about all the caring and lovely people who lived on that planet, people her grandfather had told her about when she was little. She would always tell Shadow that if he ever did make it to the surface like he wanted that he should also make an effort to make the human race happy, and do it for her too. With the purest of smiles and an unbreakable bond of friendship, Shadow promised Maria this.**

 **Eventually, all peaceful relationships and ambitious experiments came to a staggering halt when the planet's military became increasingly suspicious of Gerald's work, so much so that, seeking to remedy any possible problems, they inserted themselves into all ARK-related operations, and it was not before long that GUN infiltrated the colony itself. A severe accident on Gerald's part was the catalyst for what was to come.**

 **With corruption on both sides and after inspections of the facility and the nature of the experiments (especially the "demon hedgehog" as Shadow was referred to), GUN authorized the termination of anyone suspected to be contaminated with the experiments or anyone who tampered with the investigation of any ARK experiments, especially Project Shadow. In fact, the only human that would escape physically unharmed would be a young boy named Abraham Tower, a close friend of Maria's, son to a military family himself and witness to the barbaric creation of Shadow the Hedgehog. Witnessing that, coupled with the situation of evacuation on the ARK only solidified his young opinion that Dr. Robotnik was insane with his creations being pure evil if GUN had to resort to their actions on the fateful day Shadow's life, and the lives of all aboard the ARK, were changed forever.**

 **Professor Robotnik had been escorted away from his research aboard the ARK before the day of execution due to the aforementioned accident. What was about to happen to his daughter he would have no knowledge off as the covert GUN forces infiltrated his facilities as he wallowed away at base research on Prison Island. Before the news of what was about to happen reached him, Gerald reminisced about his experimentations with his Gizoid Project Emerl since he was staring it right in the metal face: the project the government had confiscated, the accident that had caused Gerald to be removed from his research, and the same disaster that was to seal the ARK's fate.**

 **Aboard the ARK, while Abraham was led from the room in which his parents would be slaughtered in, Shadow and Maria witnessed the execution of an ARK researcher at point blank range: he had refused to reveal the location of Project Shadow. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, their culprit was closer than they had thought. Scared for her best friend, Maria urged Shadow to escape, but he would not leave without Maria. And so like old times, Shadow went speeding ahead with his friend's hand in his, fast around the perimeter of the space colony.**

 **However, Maria could not keep up, and she was also worried about the other researchers, especially those who had come to care for her while her grandfather had been away. This worry slowed her down immensely, and it was this worried look in her eyes and her gasping breath that persuaded Shadow to slow down, allowing the relentless GUN troops to catch up. Before he knew it, they were upon them, and Maria turned to face the troops. The soldier's cold, lifeless gaze was enough to silence her. She reached her child's hand out to Shadow while at the same instant she was shot once in the chest.**

 **Immediately, the crazed words of the remaining, desperate scientists reached the soldiers' ears from across the hall and a few corridors. GUN left the dying girl as she fell into Shadow's strong arms and departed to take these men into custody, so that they could be escorted back to Mobius and tried properly with their example standing as horrific legend against any ambitious egomaniacs of the future who would dare return to the ARK. Otherwise, if they refused custody, they would be shot too.**

 **Meanwhile, it was silent again between Shadow and Maria, possibly the only other still living souls on the ARK. Even with her dying breaths, Maria was now only worried about her best friend, Shadow. She knew that GUN would come back for him and try to capture or kill him. Maria still had Shadow's promise on her mind too, and to Shadow's shock, admiration and dismay, she led him to the main viewing deck once more. The plan was to jettison him via escape pod to Mobius below. Trying to comfort her but failing in spite of the trail of blood down her clothes and along the floor, Shadow was writhing in tears, distraught to the highest level at the impending death of his only friend.**

 **As Shadow was caught by surprise at the escape pod that closed around him, he instantly realized that his only friend was saving his life with her dying breath…he was despondent, and at this, he slammed on the glass of his imprisonment to try in vain to reach out to touch the lovely hand that had given him so much: love, friendship, wisdom and purpose. The last image of her that he would ever see was a pale, dying face struggling to smile in spite of what had happened, all the chaos. As Shadow the Hedgehog was launched from the ARK, he was reminded of the promise he made to her. "Shadow, I beg of you, please do it for me... for a better future! For all the people who live on that planet... give them a chance to be happy... Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason why you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." The hedgehog was jettisoned into space, leaving Maria to die alone in a cold and deserted space colony.**

 **The plan did not go at all as planned however. Shadow's capsule was found and sealed away on Prison Island, the top secret military facility where Gerald was still being detained. The people who had died on the ARK, including Maria Robotnik and the family of Abraham Tower, were never memorialized and never mentioned again in the public eye. Gerald Robotnik fell into an infinite pit of insanity but still managed to record his thoughts and even send those remaining to his diary still aboard the ARK. He was allowed to continue research, but could barely function as his grief led his thoughts to be consumed with the idea of vengeance against humanity, the humans who had taken everything he loved away from him. He suddenly regretted his altruistic works to humanize Emerl with Maria's emotions and secretly sought to alter Shadow's genomic programming while the ultimate life was in its stasis tube. Maybe, his Shadow would forget about Maria's promise and exact Gerald's newfound lust for revenge if he were ever awakened.**

 **With the foreboding image of Black Doom in the back of his mind along with thoughts of the future of his son, Shadow, Gerald wondered also what evil future Doom would have in store for the human race when the Black Comet would return. He did not want to wait that long though nor depend upon that for his revenge, so the mad professor successfully finished reprogramming his creation with a new promise: revenge. All he wanted was for Shadow to destroy the world now. GUN caught him in the finality of this act though and saw this as an unforgivable trespass to be tampering with Prison Island property, especially since that property was the supposed ultimate life form, found safe and sound under all legal means to confiscate. With Gerald's despairing execution, the ARK too was shut down, killing him twice. And it would be fifty long years before both the colony and the ultimate life would awaken once more by Gerald's other grandchild Ivo, both of Gerald's opuses ready to face the merciless heartstrings of fate and destiny.**

The previous summer saw Angel Island engulfed in the fires of destruction yet again as Dr. Ivo Robotnik let a new Egg Robo loose on the ancient grounds. Responsible for the legendary Master Emerald, Knuckles the Echidna took it upon himself to transport the gem to the Pillar in a sanctuary he constructed, a replica of the original shrine of the Master Emerald. There, the seven chaos emeralds remained protected and in harmony. The denizens of Mobius believed that the chaos emeralds were finally in balance and out of evil's hands while Knuckles came to terms with the fact that the Master and its seven may never end up in their intended shrine ever again.

Strange things were happening now that the emotionally-charged emeralds resided in their new home. The master of them all especially affected Shadow because one night, Shadow actually dreamt in his sleep. And it was a pleasant dream too, like feeling everything was going to sort itself out. Waking up, Shadow could not get over the feeling that some sort of energy accompanied him and that it was living. It was calling out to him, asking to be his friend, something anyone visible had hardly ever asked him before.

This strange series of events happened repeatedly for the next few days as Shadow simultaneously struggled to understand what was happening but also enjoyed the most pleasant of sleeps he had had in his entire life.

Then one night, finally gaining the freedom from her tomb that was the Master Emerald, the ancient Tikal manifested herself once again into the physical plain. For it was her who was calling out to Shadow, the tortured soul, trying to relieve the pain that was suppressed within him. She had once done this on a monumental scale when taming the beast that was the mutated Chao-born Chaos. Now however, Chaos was at peace and Tikal, with her mystical powers of the ancient echidna race, chose to return in the natural beauty of her original form to gift the hedgehog with her presence.

 **Since what was assumed to be the beginning of time on the planet Mobius, the echidna race were the guardians of the sacred Master Emerald and its seven servers. They lived on the sacred Angel Island, a holy place that included the sacred shrine that housed the emeralds with the power to make wishes reality.**

 **The original intention of the echidnas was to prevent the ill use of this awesome power and to also thwart any plots to obtain this power in any and all ill will. As time progressed however and generations moved on, the echidna tribes became increasingly less stringent to their original values until the tribe under the leadership of Chief Pachacamac became obsessed with the warring between themselves and the Nocturnus Clan, a neighboring and rebellious group of echidnas.**

 **There were idealists that still remained however; ironically, among the elders who valued the old teachings of the echidna clans of the past, there was Tikal, daughter of the ignorant chief at the time. Tikal was a peace-loving creature above all, and this led her to be accepted one day without trouble into the Altar of the Emeralds. This was particularly curious to her when she realized that beings known as Chao actually inhabited the altar. Fortunately, they were adorable beyond belief, and Tikal was friendly to them all.**

 **This unconditional friendship to these innocent creatures also earned the approval of Chaos, an entity that resided within the Master Emerald. Tikal was initially very surprised by this new creature's sudden appearance, but as with the Chao, she knew it was best to welcome with peace as to avoid any meaningless conflict. Her favorite pastime as a teenager quickly became her time spent with Chaos and his Chao at the Altar of the Emeralds.**

 **As the male echidnas in her tribe, all of which overemphasized the values of brute force and strength, sought to suit the chief's lovely and gorgeous daughter, Tikal was unimpressed, reserving herself for someone that could possibly align with her peaceful dogma of life. She highly doubted that anyone in her own tribe would ever have the capacity for such love and peace as she did. Of course, she wished differently, but she was not about to use the power of the emeralds for something that was not meant to be.**

 **However, this was not the case with her father who had had enough of the meddling Nocturnus Clan and the disputes over territorial claim of the Altar of the Emeralds and the remainder of the holy grounds. Chief Pachacamac decided to follow in his tribe's best interests and steal the emeralds and greedily use their power to cheat and end the conflict with the Nocturnus. The father did not consult with his daughter or any females of the tribe for advice; this was war, and war matters were left to the masculine entities to act upon. Pachacamac's mother was irresolute but could do nothing and hoped in her granddaughter in possibly changing the self-appointed war lord's mind.**

 **Tikal was deeply saddened and challenged when she first heard about her father's decision to use the sacred powers they were supposed to protect from others against their own kind. She begged her father not to act upon the selfish and ignorant whims of the tribe, but Chief Pachacamac assured his daughter that what was going to happen was just as much if not more what he wanted than anything. Worse than a blade touching the heart, Tikal felt disowned by her father and was willing to sacrifice anything in order to stop the ensuing calamity.**

 **Tikal foresaw that Chaos would not be at all pleased when his home would be infringed upon. Deep into that one fateful night, Tikal placed herself resolutely between the altar and the rest of the village. The tribe was momentarily stalled while the chief confronted his lost daughter before storming the altar. Despite the most desperate of pleadings from the pacifist echidna in the right, the chief's warriors were ordered to trample through his daughter and the innocent Chao. In the chaos, that altar was set ablaze from the night torches, and Angel Island's holy land became hell on earth.**

 **Tikal, knocked to the ground, looked up from her pitiful state in horror as her people pillaged the gentle pools and gardens of the chao in order to obtain the emeralds. However, when the tribe's warriors reached the pinnacle, Chaos appeared enraged by all the greed, ignorance and selfishness around him. The horrific transformation took place. Absorbing this negative energy of the chaos emeralds, Perfect Chaos was born and wiped out all of the echidnas with ease and a storm of the winds and seas.**

 **Tikal was still alive after a few moments of this brutal onslaught as she looked over to see the corpse of her foolish father and the fools who had followed him. She had no time to grieve for them; if Chaos was not stopped now, she was certain that its rage would sustain its monstrous form until all life in the world would be wiped from existence.**

 **Remembering the peaceful teachings of her wise grandmother and the mantra that was passed onto her, Tikal struggled to get on her feet and approach the beast upon the altar. With the poem's words felt deeply in her soul, Tikal recited: "The servers are the seven Chaos, Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart, the controller is the one that unifies the Chaos." With this, Tikal paid the ultimate price for the ignorant greed and the violence of her people as she sacrificed her mortal life to spend several millennia calming the beast that was the unleashed Perfect Chaos, sealed away in the otherworldly stasis within the unifier, the Master Emerald.**

This fateful day, Tikal opened the door to Shadow's room. He turned over his shoulder to see the burnt orange fur, slender figure and peculiar clothing of a demure echidna. His instantaneous surprise was overcome quickly though by a sense of infringement.

This guarded position led him to ask urgently, "Who the hell are you?"

Tikal simply continued smiling and was in no hurry to explain her presence. "My name is Tikal. I'm an echidna from a far passed time. You may have heard of me as the one who sealed away Chaos into the Master Emerald after the devastation of Station Square nearly ten years ago."

"Yes…come to think of that, I have heard of that story…but I thought you were sealed away along with that monster…weren't you?"

"I was, but now there are more important things for me to attend to…like you."

Without really realizing it, Tikal had advanced much closer to him. Shadow's heart was beating much faster now as she was almost on top of him. "I don't understand what you want from me," said Shadow in a heightened distancing. "Why would you come back from that supposed paradise in that emerald for me; I don't have anything to offer anyone except my power, something I don't think you would have any use for."

"You're certainly right: I don't want your power at all. Instead, I wish you wouldn't feel so alone. You have so many friends here that love you, you know…"

At hearing this, Shadow immediately responded, "Hmph," catching an innocent Tikal off her guard. "I don't need you here to tell me how others feel about me, and why would your opinion matter anyway? You don't know anything about me."

"Actually, I know everything about you, Shadow. Why do you think I came to you in the first place? I know you live a miserable life and that you're a tortured soul that has forgotten what happiness feels like because you can't forgive yourself for all the innocent lives you've taken and all the mistakes you've made. You hate yourself and honestly care for no one. You do what you do here in this place simply because you feel obligated to. You don't care for the people you save; they're just objects to a means of easing your guilty consciousness that you think you can achieve, but you won't be able to without forgiving yourself. Am I right?"

Shadow was stunned to hear what had spewed out this random echidna's mouth, and he felt righteous indignation at her speaking the truth of his life situation. This however, was quickly overcome by the first pang of sadness he had felt in a long time, simply because this echidna acknowledged blatantly his pitiful life. "You are completely right, Tikal," muttered an overcome Shadow. "If you know what I feel…then you know there's nothing anyone can do to ease what I feel inside. Please, leave me alone."

"I refuse to do that nor will I believe there's nothing that can be done to help you, Shadow. I have to confess: I've been watching you for months, trying to connect with you for the past several days, trying to shed a little light on your dreams."

"So you're the presence that's been calling out to me! Ever since you've been doing that, I've slept better than I ever have…"

"But I thought you said no one could help you," said Tikal as she pretended to shrug her offers of caring away. "Have you changed your mind then; will you let me help you?"

"But I don't even know what that means? How can you help me more than you already have?"

"Just let me sleep with you, and you'll see."

Extremely shocked and almost offended by this unusual request and Tikal's demure audacity, Shadow quickly denied.

"All I mean to do is to share your dreams with you. Is that too much to ask?"

And before they both knew it, they were asleep with their minds in a different world entirely and with Tikal's head resting softly upon Shadow's broken heart.

In his dream state, everything was at peace while Tikal sat beside Shadow in an endless expanse of white. Shadow unloaded all of his thoughts and hardships onto Tikal who begged for him to do so as she was sturdy enough to carry them all. Tears were shed as he recounted his past to an attentive Tikal who never judged but always encouraged for him to tell more.

Everything said was necessary as it seemed to go on forever, not in a bad way but not really in a good way either. This finally culminated when Tikal tried her best to express to him that she only cared so much about him individually as to escape the tomb of the Master Emerald because she was deeply in love with him rather than a sense of pity.

Still in the dream, Shadow could not comprehend what she was saying and refused to believe that she even wanted to be his friend let alone love him. The rest of the dream was spent in this denial, but when he woke up he knew in his soul that Tikal was telling the truth as her physical being looked deeply into his eyes and into his mending soul.

In the time of healing that followed, Shadow again learned to love himself and in turn love Tikal. It was like Maria all over again, with this time being much harder after a life of forgetting what she had taught him.

Tikal was gradually introduced to Nintendo, first to the Mobians that knew of her through legends or the incident at Station Square and then to the rest of the heroes. She began to feel at peace in her new home and with her soul mate, Shadow. No longer struggling to look past himself, Shadow inquired a lot about Tikal's life, which unfortunately for her included her age: she was technically centuries old since her life had, in a way, ended with the death of her people and the creation of Perfect Chaos. At hearing of her tragic story one day, Shadow could not help but shed a selfless tear, which was the first real one he had shed in years.

Tikal though, was touched beyond belief at Shadow's thoughtful reaction, something that deepened her love for him even more. The pair continued to share their lives and support each other, each coming from somewhat similar, somewhat different backgrounds of torture and tragedy. Now, they had both finally found solace in the arms of the other. And it was this relishing of their mutual love that conceived a completely unexpected child, a child who was not supposed to be born when considering his parents were both essentially immortal, one an experiment in eternal life birthed from the harbinger of doom and the other naturally preserved in that state as a prophet.

This mixture of eternal life was passed down to their son, Adam, who was named after the brave and dutiful Adam Malkovich who had passed a few years earlier. Adam grew up fast, and within a month of his birth, he had somehow already equaled the physical size of a normal Mobian creature at ten years of age and far surpassed that average intelligence level due to his unique mix of genes from his parents. Shadow and Tikal bonded even more over their beloved son. They were so proud of what he was becoming and this only made their love for each other bloom even more. The three of them made the happiest family, something Shadow the Hedgehog never would have imagined having.

Adam was also the spitting hybrid image of his parents. He was a deep burnt orange like his mother with her crystal blue eyes that could captivate anyone. Inherited from Shadow was his ruffle of white chest hair and crazily spiked quills; it was actually a lot messier and a lot less uniform than Shadow's quills, but his dad did not help as he often would run his hand through his son's hair in affection and wildly move it about back and forth.

Contrary to his protests, Adam loved nothing more than when his dad did this. Adam always felt like he was the luckiest kid in the universe, and he told that to his parents often, saying he could not love them more if he tried immediately after he reached the point at which he could comprehend true love, which was at a miraculously early point in his life.

Wanting to live in an environment more like paradise but still wanting to stay in touch in case if they were really needed, Shadow, Tikal and Adam were granted their request to live on Angel Island again with the Master Emerald and chaos emeralds in their original home. Knuckles' duty to protect them was suspended, but he felt that was okay as he found it rewarding (he could barely admit) to spend more time with his realized love interest, Rouge the Bat.

The birth of Adam was at the close of the universal calendar year as the final one began to tick down until the end of the August month. However, there were many other mazes and stories that occurred in the first four months of the Year of Countdown. These were stories that tried and tested the heroes that called the Pillar their home.

This did include Shadow too unfortunately. Even though Tikal had entered his life for good, sometimes he could not but help slipping back into slight depression. Sleep turned out not to be forever remedied as he had supposed even though Tikal stayed with him into every night.

The source of his new woes in this time of light for him was his dreams, mainly one he kept reliving. In the dream, he was fighting his nemesis, the Eggman as usual. Tikal would always manage to get herself in the crosshairs of the mad man's deadly weapons. Every time she would have her heart pierced on the cold metal of the Eggman's killing machine. This would lead to a sorrowful and enraged Shadow tearing into the good doctor and killing him after a long and tiring battle.

However as his anger diminished with his death, Shadow would begin to feel much worse off after the fight. Every time he fell into a swirling torrent of despair and disbelief at the prospect of his only true love leaving him and the world he inhabited. Shadow no longer wanted to live and would escape into the distant wilderness, running so fast through trees and rocks that his body would be bruised, broken and bloodied by the time he reached the oceanside. Unexplainably, he would find himself staring into the storming waves that merged into the form of Perfect Chaos, the beast's infernal eyes looking directly back into his. Chaos always struck forward into the cliffside to avenge Tikal but was always too late as Shadow would throw himself into the raging seas in hopes of silencing his grief forever.

And every time Shadow woke up after this death with a mind-splitting headache and the feeling that his love was gone permanently even though she always proved to be sleeping too, with her head as always rested upon his chest, she waking too in worry because of the tearful look in her lover's face. Of course, Shadow's woes were not permanent, and Tikal continually renewed his spirit. So did Shadow's best friend as well; it was nice for him to think of his son as his best friend because in truth, Adam certainly was and understood his dad more than any outsider.

It was a dark and stormy autumn night in the Mushroom Kingdom, unlike most in which the sky is filled to the brim with stardust. The ominous drab left a state of loneliness in the Mushroom Castle, and Princess Peach had some quiet tea with her advisor, Toadsworth. The old man was at ease with his Princess being safe at once and for so long too because it had seemingly been ages since the last time the nefarious King Koopa captured Peach.

At this supposedly quaint tea time however, that was all Toadsworth would speak about to the Princess, making her feel uncomfortable and admittedly underwhelmed by her steward's lack of topics for conversation. Going for another sip of her mushroom tea, Peach was immediately startled by the sounds of cannon fire miles away from the castle, spilling the beverage all over herself.

Toadsworth, besides himself with cleaning, went to retrieve some towels from the pantry before the stains had the chance to set in too much in her wonderfully pink dress. Peach was hardly concerned with her attire as she looked out the nearest window to spot Bowser's airship armada approaching her castle.

Shocked at this (it had been years since King Bowser had made an advance on the Mushroom Kingdom), Peach sounded the alarm, notified all Toad soldiers and went to contact Nintendo since her heroes were not on the surface at the time. She ran to the phone but stumbled and was cut off by cannon fire to the castle. Peach got herself up as Toadsworth rushed back into the room, which now had a gaping hole the size of a Banzai Bill. The pair stared up frighteningly at the airship that was moving closer to them with the fiery eyes of Bowser looking into Peach's with the most unsettling glare.

Knowing that reaching out to her heroes in space was the only option, Peach attempted at floating across the gap in the floor to get to her phone, but she was not quick enough to avoid being grasped by Bowser. Toadsworth stood in horror until an annoyed Kamek shot him down the halls of the castle.

With a squeeze, Bowser demanded questioningly, "So Princess, are you ready to give up your kingdom now?"

"Never!" screamed Princess Toadstool at the top of her lungs as it would provide some opportunity for help.

"Well then, I guess it really isn't your choice anyway, is it? Why don't we start by demolishing this pathetic excuse for a castle?"

Bowser was about to command his forces and those of his son to attack further when the Princess saw a glare out of the corner of her eye as she quickly realized it was coming from space and incoming fast. It seemed for Princess Toadstool that a savior from space did in fact answer her call even though one was never made explicitly.

Coming into full view now in the Comet Observatory, Rosalina, defender of the cosmos, challenged King Bowser to let the Princess go. After a stern refusal, Rosalina caused the muscles in Bowser's right arm to constrict terribly, causing the evil king to let Peach go and focus on Rosalina instead.

Expecting much fighting to ensue, Peach looked on and worried about what the state of her Kingdom would be after such a brutal battle she thought inevitable. But to her surprise, Rosalina used her great magic to transport herself and Bowser's fleet away from the planet and into the depths of space where the two forces would be separated for a time. For now though, Bowser was light years away, but Peach would not be at ease regarding the state of affairs for a long time to come or at least until something changed about the repeating cycle of kidnappings and threats to her country.

Things were more peaceful aboard the Pillar. In the past few months, many changes had come to the infrastructure of the warriors' base. TEC, former X-Naut supercomputer, was moved from the ruined laboratory on the moon orbiting Trinity to Professor Frankly's study in Rogueport of the Mushroom Kingdom. Frankly immediately intended to give TEC away (TEC was much too technological for his traditional studies), and it was not until Goombella decided to join Nintendo that she told her professor exactly where to send the supercomputer.

TEC was very much at home in the Pillar as his networking influences were wired into the entirety of the structure by scientists Tails and Slippy. More powerful and knowledgeable than ever before, TEC aided the residents on whichever floor and whatever monitor they were working off of. TEC finally felt like his life was fulfilled again, as he had not felt that way since his time spent with Peach on the moon.

There were more Mushroom Kingdom denizens whose lives were drastically changed on the onslaught of Countdown. Many Yoshis had joined Nintendo's cause and lived now in a miniature paradise with a super happy tree aboard the Pillar. Green, leader of them all, gained a new friend through some unfortunate circumstances when visiting Peach's castle the previous summer.

After the events of the Sprixie Kingdom insertion years ago, a large Plessie tribe had come to call the Mushroom Falls near the kingdom's castle their home. Sadly, the tribe's alpha leadership were not too friendly, and Green usually kept his distance that summer, that is, until some masked meddler ruined the peaceful environment of the tribe. This man was no other than Il Piantissimo, a running man from a distant kingdom who had stumbled upon the Magic Paintbrush or Gaddbrush near Gelato Beach after the events of the pollution of Isle Delfino.

It took him years to master the techniques of the brush and its mysterious, goopy powers. When he did though, he became obsessed, leading him to practice everywhere and eventually reach the mainland again where he could color the Mushroom Kingdom.

Unfortunately for Plessie, a young, naïve Plessie creature, Il Piantissimo's painting and pollution of her habitat caused the alpha leadership to blame the innocent, young girl. Since Plessie has helped human creatures in their quest in the Sprixie Kingdom years ago, Plessie was always looked suspiciously upon, and this incident, without any shred of evidence of Plessie's involvement, was the last straw as her tribe banished her from the falls.

Green was having a wonderful time gathering fruit for Toad Town's food supplies and visiting the Toads of the castle. These things kept him busy, but he wondered about the Plessie tribe and how the recent pollution must have affected them all. One night, Green visited Peach in the castle during a small ball that was being held in the castle to commemorate the ridding of the pollution in the falls.

Green decided to crash for the night in the castle garden, which was closed off to visitors for the night due to renovations. If anything, the Yoshi did not expect to curl up against a moving bush, but then he realized that the bush was actually a Plessie, trying not to be noticed by anyone. Upon inquiring why she was in the garden, Plessie sobbingly admitted that she had no place to go and thought Peach's garden would be a good place to hide from her tribe. Green sympathized with her and offered for Plessie to come in the castle to get something to eat. She was touched by this, and, to her surprise, the gracious Princess offered the castle to the dinosaur.

No one had ever shown her such kindness as Yoshi and the Princess did. She could not help but love the little, green dino-dragon that offered her a place to stay and wanted to become good friends with him. The next morning, as it turned out, was the perfect chance to bond with Green as Il Piantissimo showed his masked mien once more, this time looking to spruce up the castle with some tasteful graffiti.

Honestly though, this was a terrible decision on the running man's part because although he was fast, Green was a lot faster and apprehended, or rather swallowed, the fiend, encasing him in an egg prison. Plessie also made quick work of washing the pollution by splashing the nearby river water onto the outside castle walls; they shined like never before, and Il Piantissimo was taken into custody by a Toad guard.

Before he was to be locked away and tried however, Green mentioned that Plessie should have the opportunity to show her tribe the polluting culprit in order for her to become one with her people once again. Plessie denied Green's kind offer though, telling him that she did not belong there anymore and instead wanted to spend her time with her new best Yoshi friend. Green was made super happy by this, and their friendship continued to grow exponentially.

It was to grow much sooner than expected too as another threat emerged to challenge the Mushroom Kingdom. Raphael the Raven along with his followers had migrated from Yoshi's Island to Lavalava Island now to Mt. Frustration within the boundaries of the kingdom. The raven minions had been stealing and hoarding food supplies, for a while, unbeknownst to the Yoshis and the rest of the kingdom. It was only when a fight broke out between a raven and Red the Yoshi did the kingdom learn of their selfish plans.

Green decided with urgency to face his old foe by himself and decided to gather some supplies from the castle in a knapsack. He could not leave without Plessie finding out about his plan. She pleaded to Green in order to come along, and Green of course said yes, being of a kindhearted nature.

Plessie proved to be an invaluable asset for Green though when they breached the snowy worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom. With her smooth belly and large stature, she slipped and slided down snow-covered hills and ice-screened lakes with Green on her back really enjoying himself. It was not long at all before Mt. Frustration could be seen in the distance, and Green and Plessie only spent one night in these chilling conditions.

Plessie, used to more tropical or even arid conditions, became very cold this night, but Green went on a little side hike to find a red Koopa Troopa. Holding it in a little too long for his liking, Green was doubly relieved to light a fire beside his new friend when he returned. Plessie was warmed physically and emotionally by this act of kindness, and she cuddled with her new friend until the morning sun rose magnificently over the pure white mountains.

It was nothing more than a skip and a hop, a slide and a flutter to reach the peak of Mt. Frustration where the pair of now best buddies faced Raphael in all of his giant glory. Plessie was not very useful in a fight (in fact she was pacifistic) and so Green took the raven head on with a barrage of eggs and a flurry of kicks. Raphael continually interrupted Green with mighty pounds to the ground that shook the ground beneath the dinosaurs' feet. This gave Plessie an idea to use her girth to her their advantage and shake the ground beneath the raven's feet when he landed. This turned into a vicious cycle, and it backfired.

An avalanche began to fall beneath the trio, and the peak on which they were fighting gradually began to thin. Raphael began to get the upper hand on the Yoshi who was out of his comfort zone, and this angered Plessie who decided to jump into the fray after all. She slammed her full force into the mighty raven, causing them to topple over the peak and down the mountainside. When the two disappeared, the avalanche stopped and there was silence, Green being left in the middle of it along with his dread on top of Mt. Frustration.

Green ran over to the edge to see the pair tumble down into a seemingly endless white shroud. Without hesitating, Green jumped off, fluttering down as he went to slow his descent. At the bottom of the mountain, Yoshi found the injured body of Raphael who had no doubt learned his lesson; the monstrosity had trouble getting himself up. Green was worried about Plessie though, his fears and pulse being heightened as he could not find her anywhere where the raven had landed.

As quickly as his fears were increased was as rapid as they went away since Plessie came sliding up beside Green with a big smile on her face and her heart full of meaning and love for her Yoshi friend. Having taught the raven leader a lesson and ensuring the security of the Mushroom Kingdom's food supplies with their teamwork, Yoshi and Plessie, giddy as could be, rushed off on their journey back to the castle, certain that their friendship could conquer anything in their way.

Another new face was introduced to a Nintendian legend around this time as well. However, it was one that Samus Aran was incredibly surprised to see. It was a face that was going to change her life forever.

The dreaded league of Space Pirates were still around at this time along with their hidden leader, Ridley, albeit them being nonexistent on a galactic scale after Samus's repeated meddling in their affairs. Pitifully, they had resorted to terrorizing smaller systems, gathering means for living again in hopes of strengthening their forces for another assault on the Galactic Federation. One of these systems had a small planetoid orbiting a somewhat dull star. At first landing, the space rock seemed uninhabited, but the pirates' curiosity urged them to discover the place further.

Chris of the Chozo knew of their landing, and he was deeply scared by it. Presumed by himself the last of his race and thought to be dead like the rest of his kin, Chris had colonized this lone planetoid in the name of the Chozo as he sought a different lot in life rather than spreading technological influence or experimenting on altered life as his brethren had done before him. These paths had only led his Chozo brothers and sister to lives of despair, early graves and, in some cases, tortured paranormal states.

Chris chose to study the environment around him and keep his ear to the cosmic ground of the universe as a devout scholar. He implemented a system of surveyors to detect any atmospheric disturbances, what triggered his discovery of the pirate landing. Having great technology at his disposal, Chris sent out a distress signal to anyone passing by that had the ability to heed his call. He then gathered the necessities and prepared to seek shelter in a secretly crafted chamber of his abode if the pirates were to arrive at his door. Little did Chris surmise however was how actually close a band of Space Pirates were to his small house.

Patrolling a sector of federation space, Samus received this distress call and, dutifully answering it as always, she logged in the coordinates from the signal and set out to a region of uncharted space.

The Space Pirates shot down the door and ransacked what they assumed was another Chozo ruin. Chris held his breath in suspense as the fiends continued to tear his place apart.

Samus, who was originally going to land on the exact terrestrial coordinates provided to her, saw the pirates' jetpacks and decided to land out of sight and rush to the building in which her nemeses were parked outside of.

No slouches, the pirates discovered a hatch in the floor by a very slim crack in the ground. Chris was hauled out of his hallowed out chamber and thrown onto the floor. Upon seeing his face, both pirates were shocked to see a member of the Chozo. The two aliens to this planet acknowledged each other and were about to take great pleasure in the torture and execution of the last Chozo. Ridley would not know and could not take away the satisfaction from these two pirates.

The Space Pirates simultaneously thrust their blades into Chris's abdomen when a shot from the Plasma Beam blew through the door to Chris's home. Taking their blades out in shock, the pirates turned to face their worst fear: bounty hunter Samus Aran. Shots were exchanged, and amidst the chaos the pirates fled to their jetpacks. Samus pursued and chased the Aerotroopers on foot and, with her speed booster, had no trouble keeping up long enough to shoot the menaces down. The last one crashed to the ground near Samus with a mighty explosion, but Samus dodged it, already on her way back to attend to the victim of the pirates' sinister ways.

Hurting and disoriented, Chris managed to stumble upon his feet just in time to see the visor of his savior approach through the dust that was settling after the shootout. Placing his hands on his bleeding side, he stumbled forward into Samus's arms. He stammered, "You're-re Samus…Samus Aran!" before he fainted into an abysmal state.

Samus, almost too shocked to do or say anything because she was actually holding a Chozo in her arms, hurried back to her ship with him in her arms. She immediately situated Chris and gave him proper medical attention. His wounds were very serious, but with the tools at her disposal, Samus was positive he would recover. The bleeding worsened however, and an unsure Samus utilized her plasma beam to cauterize the comatose Chozo's abdomen. Samus was glad Chris was not conscious enough to feel that pain and decided to stay on the planet in case any more pirates volunteered to be laid to waste by Samus Aran.

When Chris awoke from his dreamy state, he had a plethora of things to say to Samus but not the words, so he just let Samus do the talking.

"I sure am glad I found you when I did," said Samus.

"Me…me too," stuttered an overwhelmed Chris who was looking into the real-life eyes of the legendary warrior he had heard so many things about. Only second on his mind, he placed a careful hand on his stomach, worried about how he was going to hold up.

Samus answered this by saying, "You'll be fine, I promise. I fixed up your bleed and sutured your wound. You shouldn't have any trouble with it in only a few days. My name is Samus Aran, by the way. What's yours?"

"My name's Chris the Chozo. And I already knew you were Samus Aran; I'm sure you'd be recognized anywhere. You are the famous hero known throughout the galaxy, are you not?"

"I am, at least, some would say that."

"I'm honored to have met you, Samus. As such, you can't even begin to imagine how grateful I am that you were the one who answered my call."

"I've helped out some truly grateful beings in my day, Chris. Besides, the significance of your meeting me is nothing compared with the significance of me knowing of your very existence; I thought the Chozo were all extinct after all. All of the major systems they were known to inhabit are deserted now, and only ruins and ghosts remain. How are you even here?"

"I chose a different path than most of my brethren. You don't have to worry about shedding any bad news. I already know that what I surmise to be the rest of our species is well-gone by now. I chose the path of a lonely scholar and sought to enlighten myself without the biases of our culture's dogma and ideals, no matter how noble they were."

"Judging by first impressions, I'd say a phenom of their kind was preserved. As I'm sure you know through stories passed down by your people, your kind raised me and gifted me with all of the abilities I've retained and perfected today. Without the Chozo, I wouldn't even be. And I hate those damn Space Pirates just as much as you do, I'm certain."

"I'm sure you do, exactly why I'm lucky you're the one who answered the call and not some random traveler who might not have shared the same sympathies. We should probably wipe out the rest of them before we leave this planet."

"I was just about to ask you if you had detected anymore of those bastards. Point me in the right direction, and I'll take care of them!"

The pair salvaged what was left of Chris's possessions as Chris led Samus in the right direction to rid the planet of Space Pirates. That was short work for her. The two again boarded Samus's Gunship, ready to takeoff now that no loose ends remained on Chris's planet.

The trusty ship lifted off and into the great wonder of space.

"I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart, Samus Aran. I will forever be in your debt."

"I was just doing my job. You don't have to thank me, and I'm glad I had the privilege of saving your life."

"Well, I'd be damned if didn't thank the greatest warrior the galaxy's ever known. I'm just not sure where I'm going to live now, let alone do my research."

"Actually, you don't need to worry about that at all, my friend. I know the perfect place for you…"

They were the Fallen Coalition: Dimentio, who had escaped from the throes of the Underwhere without the authorization of Queen Jaydes; Zant, who was not resurrected but rather abducted from his purgatorial state; Zazan, who was a fading reminder of an Anglar Empire long passed away; and Metallix, who was a forgotten creation of a mad doctor who failed to prove that copies surpassed the originals. Dimentio was the leader and gathered these fellow comrades in disgrace in order to pose a threat to Nintendo.

Each member wanted to exact some much desired vengeance against those heroes that ruined them. Metal Sonic desperately wanted to waste Sonic and his friends he cared so much for, Zazan despised Star Fox and the McCloud who single-handedly destroyed his master, Zant looked forward to hearing the screams of the young Link and that traitor Midna who had defeated him in battle, and Dimentio wanted nothing more than to permanently send the Mario Brothers and company to the depths of the Underwhere permanently.

The group shocked Nintendo with the news of their existence, all of whom the heroes thought were dead. Together still, they provided a few small annoyances for the warriors in the first months of Countdown as they would often flee to rework a better strategy every time a confrontation occurred. These were few and far between and happened in disclosed locations, so that not many Nintendo members fought against the coalition. The four meddlers still had not gotten their opportunities to exact their revenge. They thirsted more and more for it.

In a distant time, Link felt something missing in his life as he traveled the lands of Hyrule without a constant companion albeit his horse Epona. He missed Midna, the Twilight Princess, since she departed the world of light to restore her kingdom in her realm. He could never get over the shattering of the Mirror of Twilight. The worlds of light and dark were of the same coin, and his best friend had shattered that coin for what she thought was the best for both their peoples.

Even if that were true, Link did not want to believe it and desperately wanted to see his friend again. Upon the inconsistent paradox in the land of Hyrule and general disturbance in the space-time continuum of Trinity, it became possible for the Twilit Era's denizens to once again mend the bridge to the Twilight Realm.

Leaving Hyrule and the planet and constantly returning in a different time allowed Link to gather the Lens of Truth and Mirror of Truth. Once, when he returned in his own time again, he grasped at the possibility of a crazy plan working out for him. Revisiting the Arbiter's Grounds once more (trudging through the dungeon once again and sorely thus missing Midna's warping abilities), Link came upon the spot where the full Mirror of Twilight once stood. Using the Lens of Truth to reveal what should have been there and mirroring that image with the Mirror of Truth did unexpectedly really, create a new Mirror through which to travel through.

Link happy beyond belief, stepped into the familiar light and entered the Twilight Realm again, ready to search for his companion.

Midna saw the insignia of the Mirror of Twilight once more on the cold, dark ground before Link entered and had gone to investigate it. She was surprised to see Link appear from the portal, but to be fair, she would have been surprised to see anyone appear from it now. Link, now fully materialized in this realm, was pleasantly shocked to see that Midna had once again taken the form of an imp. After much catching up, he was pleased to find out that she actually had come to adore her cursed form and that her people did not mind living under a shorter leader.

They were fully aware of her power, and all twilit denizens detested the tribe's old dark magic and the works of Zant, the usurper king. One especially faithful twilit being was Twizar, who had become Midna's right-hand man in facilitating business in the palace. After much catching up and convincing, Link persuaded Midna to return to the world of light, at least for a while, to catch up with Princess Zelda and spend some time with them, her best friends still.

Midna was fully on board and needed no more persuasion from Link to leave her home. She bid a fond and temporary farewell to her people, leaving Twizar in charge of the governance of the palace and insurance of the security of her people. The Twilight Princess departed with the Hero of Time into the world of light.

The new Mirror of Twilight was doing its job exceptionally and as expected as the two reappeared on the other side. Link's feet were standing on the steps that Midna's soles were touching when she had said good-bye to him forever. Both remembering this and looking into each other's eyes awkwardly yet affectionately, Link's and Midna's deep feelings for each other were instantly rekindled and caused their faces to flush.

"So, what was it that you were trying to say to me when you left?" asked Link.

"I…love you…" was the reply.

Hyrule was not the only place for unexpected relationships to bloom. In a most inopportune time for the Kong family, one of their own was falling in love with a kremling soldier even after King K. Rool's forces had abducted her. She was returned however by none other than the same kremling scum that was ordered to torture her. As such, Tiny Kong and Kyle Kremling formed an interesting relationship, and their acknowledged friendship transformed into infatuation over time.

This was especially awkward for everyone else involved though as K. Rool had just started in seeking revenge against the Kong family with his reptilian hoards once more. Bold invasions or any more kidnappings were not going to work this time as K. Rool continued to try to hit the Kongs where it would hurt: their innocent and vulnerable animal friends of their third island. The first was permanently polluted by Kremkroc Industries, Inc. and the second, much smaller than their current island (and located near Banana Fairy Island) was serving as their vacation residence for the time being as the animal buddies had the roam of the place with the volcano.

To the Kongs, things had simply winded down after Kyle went rogue and fell in love (even though most of the family disapproved wholeheartedly with Kyle's presence), but in actuality, they were completely unaware of the atrocities happening at their main home while King K. Rool silently began building his forces again, readying to exact his revenge on the traitor and his furry new friends.

In a major crossroads, Meta Knight had to decide what he was going to do with his life. In the time that passed since the events of the Subspace Invasion, he along with his followers constructed a new, replica Halberd. It was these very followers that he now intended to abandon. Late to the cause, Meta Knight gradually warmed up to the idea of being a hero for Nintendo; over the years, his disregard for being portrayed in the public eye positively disappeared as he eventually decided that starting a new chapter in his life was the best way for him now. He bid farewell to all who had helped him in his causes, whether they were good or bad, throughout his life. Waddle Dee, Axe Knight, Mace Knight and Captain Vul all wished him well as Meta Knight finally joined Nintendo in a permanent position as a free-spirited resident just in time for the crises Tabuu's telepathic message were a catalyst for.

As lead science officer and strategist for Nintendo, Miles Prower was a busy fox and probably held the most responsibilities any teenager had in the universe. He was almost an adult now, his age showing in his exploits without his best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog. Tails also found love again, this time in the much older Lucy Hare, daughter of the current Cornerian general and former Star Fox member.

A year prior to the commencement of Countdown, Lucy lost the love of her life similarly to how Tails had seven years ago with Cosmo. Wolf O'Donnell had turned over a new leaf after his final run-in with Star Fox, and he and his partners, Leon Powalski and Panther Caruso, even decided to live in the Pillar and help out Nintendo, provided the bounties on their heads were removed. This business arrangement eventually evolved into much more, and Wolf and Lucy fell madly in love with each other much to the chagrin of her father.

However, Lucy was an adult, and there was to be no stopping the two of them from being together. Lucy's best friend, Krystal, even supported their relationship with Fox grudgingly deciding to not get into it in any capacity. Unfortunately though, their controversial love was not to be forever; an evil force deemed their bliss to die swiftly.

The Ghost of Andross was actually very present in the lives of the heroes ever since he was thought to be finally decimated absolutely. Through his previous experiments before he was turned into his gruesome bioweapon form, Andross had gained the abilities of mind-control and telepathy. Somehow these abilities went with him into the afterlife as he sought revenge by haunting those he despised, as with Fox's nightmare in the first week of this last year.

As such, his work had begun much earlier than that with the brainwashing of Wolf O'Donnell. Unknown to the heroes, Wolf had not simply slipped into insanity like what Lucy had thought when he attacked her inexplicably, leading to his banishment and the resignations of the bewildered remains of Star Wolf. Andross had taken control of his entire being from across the spectral plane, but unfortunately not even Krystal could sense past the evil force that Andross was wielding, a force that ruined Wolf's life and led to a deeply scarred Lucy.

Instead of seeking solace in the comforting arms of her father or her friends, Lucy berated herself for trusting former enemies to Star Fox and thought of her mother Vivian and how disappointed she must have been in her daughter. Lucy was stuck in her depressive cycle for the rest of two months until she gave birth to Wolf's daughter, Vivian Hare.

Peppy's granddaughter was a new light in her life even though she was obviously and constantly reminded of the loving times (now with a bitter aftertaste) that led to her daughter's birth. Something that got Wolf off her mind however was Miles Prower. In a daring new division of the Pillar's enterprise's, Tails and Lucy worked together in the science wing doing research on subjects whose experiments had been far too prolonged by the governments on the surface worlds that were supposed to be following through.

While reflective techniques of Simirrors and absorptive properties of Metroid hatchlings were interesting, Tails' initial attraction was sparked after seeing Lucy's extensive analytical and practical knowledge of climate control regarding Fichina's infrastructure. Lucy was likewise amazed by Tails' expertise in creating wavelengths on which could be traveled through a solid mode, just like a Chaos Emerald.

Their newborn relationship was fresh but suffered no problems. Tails had no problem with Lucy already having a child, and both of them were content with not being with their first loves. This new pair had collectively decided to move on together.

Finding new love was great for Tails, especially since his ideologies were truly testing his friendship with Sonic. The blue blur had saved his buddy's life a year earlier, or rather, resurrected it. On a final mission in an attempt to oust Dr. Eggman from his mechanical utopia on Mobius, the Freedom Fighters banded together once again. In this unsuccessful raid, justice was not seen and several disagreements left the group in shambles forever.

The good doctor was in no way content with his somewhat advantageous state of affairs; none of his forest animal nemeses were dead after all. In a surprise attack on Sonic and Tails as they were leaving the planet for home, Tails was shot in the heart by Eggman's robot before a shocked Sonic had the chance to obliterate it. Struggling to compose himself enough to ask if his best friend was able to speak, Sonic was met with no answer as he held his Tails lifeless in his arms.

Desperate and distraught, Sonic hurried home with a glimmer of hope that his friend would make it if a crazy plan worked magic, but the tears were speedily running down his cheeks at the thought of it not working, leaving his most important friend gone away from him forever.

All knew that the Chaos Emeralds were capable of turning a wisher's desires into power, and Sonic desired nothing more than to bring his friend back. In mere seconds, Tails was placed before the altar of the Master Emerald with Super Sonic bringing together the jewels in an attempt to resurrect Tails. The god's power was pure and strong enough; Tails, bewildered and dizzy, got up from his only temporary resting place and greeted his friend.

However, Sonic was not expecting a reaction from Tails that would eventually lead to the dismantling of their friendship. When Tails learned that Sonic had brought him back to life with divine power, Tails was disgusted at the prospect of tampering with the universe and its laws. Tails proclaimed, after grudgingly and customarily thanking Sonic, that if he died, there was no reason for him to be among the living anymore. Tails was consumed with the idea of his life being made more significant than other life in the universe because he had been brought back unnaturally.

Tails' moral conundrum had Sonic dumbfounded. He could not believe his best friend was not more grateful for getting a second chance at life and gracing the lives of himself and their other friends. This inability to understand led to a righteous indignation on Sonic's part and an obsessed Tails whose mind was boggled with the prospects of what this meant to his new life and the balance of the universe.

It was an unspoken distinction that Sonic never do this again. What was left to happen to their friendship followed through when Sonic repeated his misgivings by bringing back two more lives from the dead. A grown-up Cream had begun dating Charmy the Bee while Vector the Crocodile became a new dad for the rabbit as he was married to Vanilla, Cream's mother. On the commencement of Countdown, cancer left Vanilla bedridden, and a dangerous Chaotix investigation gave Charmy a terminal gunshot wound.

As their terminal clocks ticked simultaneously and rapidly at the same time, the new father-daughter pair was left outside a treatment room, sobbing with each other when a mother, wife, son and boyfriend all passed. Hearing this, Sonic could not believe it, and deliberately disregarding his friend Tails, he utilized his super form to bring Vanilla and Charmy back to life once again.

Once he heard of this, Tails was furious but kept it to himself until he could speak to Sonic alone. Leaving a conversation with Amy, Sonic could sense that the fox was approaching behind him. He turned around and, reacting to the angry, disappointed gaze in Tails' eyes, pushed him down to the floor. Sonic had had enough of his so-called friend.

"You're an ungrateful brat, Tails! Unlike you, I can't let my friends die when I have the power to prevent that from happening. Don't you understand? I love them just like I love you! That's why I saved you; I couldn't live without my best friend, the guy that's been there for me my entire life. If you were in my position, what would you have done?!"

"It doesn't matter what my answer would be, Sonic. What you've done is wrong and could ruin the balance of power or life in the universe."

"Forget your universe then. This is my world, and I'm going to make it better or at least have it stay good as long as I can. I never asked to be a god."

As Tails picked himself up, Sonic's last words were, "Stay away from me, Tails."

Amy, who had seen her boyfriend forget his best friend, helped Tails up but held no illusion of catching a mad Sonic on the run.

Sonic had ran to his room. If Amy or Tails had followed him and showed up, then he would speed past them in a flash to be alone. Sonic was alone now. Sonic sobbed over the loss of his best friend, Tails.

A few truly unexpected pilots knocked on Nintendo's door after these events. Star Wolf was allowed to enter but were swiftly taken into custody upon stepping foot inside. Considered to be lousy criminals fabricating fantasies to General Peppy, who took a deep personal interest in interrogating the scum before others including his daughter found out about their return, Wolf and his cronies desperately tried to explain the past year and, unfortunately for his defense, how O'Donnell did not remember any of it.

All that could be explained was that Leon and Panther eventually got too fed up with the brainwashed Wolf's demands as they had beat the possessed Wolf to a pulp after he killed a few of their henchmen in a recently reclaimed Sargasso hideout. When Wolf awoke from this submissive and unconscious state, he was free of the spirit of Andross who had exhausted his powers over the course of the past year, with beating being the last he could take.

Wolf desperately explained to his friends who had blindly followed an evil Wolf that there was no way for him to even defend himself; he could not even remember anything about the past year that he was told had passed. This was exactly how Wolf was pleading to General Peppy now as all he needed was to speak to the mother of his child. Much against his better judgment, Peppy could not deal with either the lies or insanity that screamed for a chance in front of him, and so he decided to call in his daughter.

Lucy's heart sank to her stomach when she was summoned by her somber-sounding father, and it skipped two beats when she saw her former lover and criminal to the Lylat System in front of her. Lucy was too shocked to say anything. Wolf did all the talking and sounded as incredibly earnest as any perfectly innocent creature could. Their lives were, again, changed forever. Lucy grabbed her Wolf by the arm and led him to his daughter, Vivian, for the very first time.

But Tails was there, taking care of the now one-year-old kid who shared so many striking features similar to Wolf's at such an early age. Tails, too, became speechless and walked out of the room before anything could be said from Wolf or Lucy. No could think of what to say. Too entranced to care about the fox boy, Wolf was completely taken by his daughter's piercing eyes and playful, infantile laugh.

Little Vivian's laughter coincided with Tails' tears now stories above in his own room. At this point, Tails knew he could not lose both his lover and best friend. He considered making amends with Sonic, but the fact still remained, judging from the way Lucy was looking at Wolf O'Donnell, that Tails was not meant to be with Lucy Hare. Crying turned to sobbing and inescapable inadequacy and loneliness as Tails could not comprehend his thoughts or desires.

Unexplainably yet perfectly, Tails' most life-defining moment occurred before his blurred eyes. Seven years to the date after Tails was forced to kill her to save the galaxy from the Metarex, Cosmo, Tails' first love of a far-off planet, bloomed into existence from the sprout before him, in an even fuller glory than he had remembered. He had saved that sprout all these years; Tails had never really let go of her memory. Not a single act of cognition computed in Tails' oversized brain. He was much too shocked until Cosmo spoke something simple for him: "Hi, Tails…I didn't forget you…"

This was too much for poor Tails. He ran to the docking bay to set out on a starry tour of the surrounding space to try to get this day in his life straight in his mind. It was mere moments before the Tornado X took off, leaving Cosmo in the pilot's room alone but patient. After all, Tails was forced to wait seven long years for her to return to him.

"I see you love that fox boy now…I guess. It's best that I leave now, and we can figure out a schedule for me to come back and see my daughter later, so you can tell the fox that me being here means nothing now. Again, I'm incredibly sorry for what I did to your life and our daughter's…or…what Andross did to all of us. You can contact me whenever is convenient for you of cou-," said Wolf with his daughter in his arms as he was cut off.

Chiming in before he continued to get the wrong idea, Lucy said, "Wolf, there's no reason for you to leave…ever…I do love Tails…a lot, much of it due to how he made me forget about a version of you that wasn't even yours to begin with…. I can't punish you now. I only miss you, Wolf, and now you're miraculously back in my life and Vivian's…."

Lucy began to cry, out of both grief for time lost and happiness for the future.

"Lucy…I don't know what to say other than…I still love you, and that never really changed. It just appeared as though it did…"

Stifling sniffles, "Right before you were possessed…you were talking to me about getting married…I wanted to be with you forever then! Please propose to me now. Nothing else matters except for how we feel about each other! You're back…"

"I can stay with you if that's what you want, but under the suspicions and circumstances, there's no way I'm going to throw you in an unfavorable light with your dad, friends, colleagues or even the public eye by asking you to be my wife. When the galaxy learns of Star Wolf's return, we'll be referred to as the worst of all scum, and…I still don't deserve you, Lucy. Nothing was ever going to change that."

"In other words, I'll just have to convince you that all doesn't matter over time because there's no way I'm ever going to be without you again…my Wolf."

"We'll be fighting to keep something the same when everything else is changing around us. Are you sure you want that challenge in your life?"

"Yes, there's no challenge that we can't match and surpass. And Wolf, I'll never fear you again; the real you would never hurt me or our child. I'm the one who's sorry for not believing in that, for not going out to find you and turn you back in time for the birth of…her…."

Wolf answered her final tears for a while by assuring, "I have plenty of time to catch up now even though I'll have two beautiful hares to attend to now. I love you."

After his short flight, Tails realized the pit of his selfishness, returned home and began to think about the problems of others. He thought there must be a reason for Lucy to have brought Wolf back to this daughter and, effectively, home. The majority of his thoughts now were focused on Cosmo as he skipped, ran and flew upstairs to his room. To his bottomless delight, Cosmo was still there, beautiful and radiant as she had always been.

Thinking of the perfect solution as he finally he reached his floor, Tails realized that Lucy may want to reunite with Wolf who, just maybe, was misunderstood or something like that. This thought freed him, and Tails burst through his room and hugged the lost love of his life, picked her up, spun her around in the air, tails twirling, and looked lovingly and gratefully into her eyes.

Cosmo had anticipated this as she heard Tails' trampling feet rush through the floor to his room to greet her more appropriately this time. Cosmo was happy to be alive and brimming with good feeling since she was in her love's arms, the same fox, now much more grown, that kept a potted plant that just would not grow in his room for seven long years. Cosmo was speechless at this faith, and gestures and smiles became much more effective and easier than words.

Everything was worked out amongst the two new couples and true first loves were continued from where they began. Wolf, Lucy, Tails and Cosmo all acknowledged that the wills of evil entities were what caused the perfect things in their lives to be disrupted. With their eternal hearts in mind, both couples vowed to not let evil get in the way of their love ever again. Nothing was as important as that.

Two months in, it was Halloween, at least as it was celebrated in the town of Nintendo (named after the famed hero group) in Animal Crossing, a section of islands on trinity that was home to many delightfully boring humans and friendly anthropomorphic animals. Jack's tricks and treats abounded throughout the town and city under the leadership of Mayor Eric and his secretary Isabelle while Nintendo the Heroes dealt with real terror in the skies and space above.

As much as Tabuu Soul's telepathic call initiated the Year of Absolution, so too did the Horror of the Moons catalyze the evil that Nintendo would have to deal with in the ten months ahead. Whether it was coincidence or not did not matter to the heroes when many of their old nemeses returned and banded together in awesome power. The immensity of the crisis would have been far too much for them to handle individually, but together they dispelled all enemies albeit only temporarily as the Horror of the Moons would haunt them for far longer than the three days in which it lasted.

Dark Matter was rising exponentially in the universe and seeped into the purgatory of the Hero of Time, rebirthing Majora's Moon and a demonic mask in the present time due to the nature of Hyrule's shifting time paradox (which was also heightened there, in Eagleland and the Fire Emblem nations due to Sonic's universe-melting final blow that had defeated Tabuu seven years earlier). The Mushroom Moon birthed a following of X-Nauts from Poshley Heights on Trinity too as Sir Grodus and Lord Crump emerged from hiding beneath the moon's surface. The Dark Moon's mysterious influence was also enhanced by Dark Matter's presence as Boos under their leader, the King Boo, became stronger and more daring in their hauntings.

The moon of Mobius became structurally unstable, leading to Eggman's repairs breaking and revealing hidden demon spawn in the form of a Black Arm army reborn under the resurrected leadership of Black Doom. Zero Two, influenced again by Dark Matter, returned in a gargantuan, monstrous state as it loomed over Trinity, giving it a third moon with its white body. Where the battle was to take place, Zero Two somehow communicated with those Black Arms from afar, Shroobs, Aparoids and Space Pirates as they all congregated in orbit of the planet to do battle with the Nintendo Heroes. Meanwhile, Tails and Cosmo resisted the advances against the team from the Fallen Coalition on the smaller of the two moons that had previously orbited Planet Zebes, now a stark field of debris.

Amidst this terrible chaos and the resulting attraction of the alien force known as Giygas, two redeemed antiheroes emerged victorious in the temporary slaying of Zero Two: Wolf O'Donnell and Shadow the Hedgehog. With Wolfen laser fire and chaos spear, an even worse crisis was averted for the majority of those involved. Shadow and Wolf however had crucial decisions to make in the wake of Devil Doom's acquisition of the chaos emeralds and impressive chaos control that gave Link the power to clawshot Termina's moon and transported both Central City and Corneria City into the depths of space where they were protected by Silver's telekinesis and eventually returned to their respective planets. A special kind of hell awaited Shadow and Wolf upon the clearing out of the rest of the villains while a taken Pokey Minch observed Giygas's attacks and escape from the surface below. After these events, Vector the Crocodile recorded it all in a diary on TEC's service board. It would not be read until months later.

 **In the beginning, three golden goddesses were sent to create a world before time even began, before space even existed. These goddesses: Din, Nayru and Farore traveled until they came upon what would become the planet Trinity and its holy land of Hyrule. Din sculpted the mass of rock that was to become the core structure of the planet. Nayru gifted the world with law and order so that Farore could create the originators of life.**

 **Time passed and the planet evolved, allowing forces of light and dark to grow. One dark tribe was sent to live in the world of light in a land named Termina. Those of the light did not respond with hostility; it was against their nature. However, the dark tribe only wanted to disgrace the gods who had made them. They wanted to show how unlikely and unholy they must be by building an immense Stone Tower in the Ikana Canyon region.**

 **These of the dark tribe also worshipped a great deity, a female one named Majora, instead of honoring the three golden goddesses. Once they reached the top of their tower, they were met with the wrath of the goddesses as they deemed the land of Termina unworthy. Ikana was flipped on its axis and their Majora deity, created from blind faith and corrupt magic, was met with a Fierce Deity of the gods who defeated the evil creature.**

 **Majora was not truly defeated, but rather, was banished from the lands of Ikana in a horrid beast form, leaving the dark tribe of Ikana alone and without religion. That tribe would eventually find itself in the land of Hyrule, its descendants left to be led down a path to banishment in another realm in the far-reaching future.**

 **In the land of Termina, roughly ten million years before the events of Termina's crashing moon, the aforementioned beast lived alone, preying on travelers that would find it their misfortune to come across the terrible beast. One day, one wandering hero came across the beast. Instead of falling victim to the rumors of wish-granting and persuasive power of the beast, the hero was wise and sympathized with the monster.**

 **Bringing out a lone drum and beginning to play it, the beast became enthused and began to dance at dawn. The beast, dancing madly, shook the earth for three days and three nights. On the fourth morning, its breathing stopped and nothing but its armor remained. The hero, wishing the monster to be able to sleep forever, memorialized it by carving a mask out of the beast's armor. He let the mask lay dormant after his carving, and it was not until epochs later that Majora's Mask was finally found by another human. An extraordinarily happy man, a salesman procured the mask for his business, setting in place a chain of events he could have never anticipated.**

The Horror of the Moons had brought the Happy Mask Salesman to judgment before Link, the Hero of Time and Fierce Deity reborn, seeking vengeful justice for the torment of his alternate self in the land of Termina. Through Dark Matter's manipulation, a revived and fully powered Majora's Mask that was in the man's possession was sent across the breadth of the planet upon the Salesman's execution by the Deity's blade.

The town of Nintendo was enjoying financial prosperity, an awesome sense of community and many reasons to celebrate including the recent marriages of Tom Nook and Sable Able on Toy Day and Mayor Eric and Isabelle on the first day of the New Year. All was well and happy in Animal Crossing until on the third night of the New Year when Tommy and Timmy Nook found Majora's Mask in a trash can in the alley behind their uncle's shop, the T&T Emporium.

Taking a liking to the fashionable yet outlandish design, Tom Nook unknowingly put in motion a chain of terrible events when he opted to sell Majora's Mask as a fortune cookie prize in his shop. On the dawn of the following morning, Mayor Eric, making his normal shopping rounds, purchased a cookie and ended up winning the mask. Eric loved the look of Majora's Mask and wore it constantly, constantly visiting his friends and neighbors Kyle and Purrl or night fishing with it on.

Isabelle, worrisome as she may be, began to get frantic one day at work when Mayor Eric refused to take the mask off while at his desk. He had begun acting strangely as if he was not himself anymore.

Isabelle inquired, "Mayor Eric, please just take that mask off for one second!"

Upon hearing these words, the mask became violent, silencing the real Eric from speaking for once. Majora wildly beat its mug against the walls of town hall, dragging with it the seemingly lifeless corpse of the mayor. Unsure of what to do, Isabelle went to get help from Main Street, specifically Tom Nook. Naturally, the tanooki had no clue what was going on, his nephews not having the faintest idea either. Isabelle's panicked commotion did garner the attention of the other residents of this commercial district as they all hurried back to town hall upon her desperate requests.

Meanwhile, Majora was uncomfortable controlling a vessel she found unworthy of her power. Mayor Eric was in no means distressed like the Skull Kid she had once controlled and demented. More importantly though was that Eric had no potential for devastating power; as a normal human, his inner strength and potential for evil possession were largely insignificant for the mask. Majora's Mask began thinking it better to find a more powerful vessel.

Kicks the Skunk was first to make it to town hall where he found the mask and its captive hovering in the air, nearly motionless, as if it were contemplating something.

Unable to resist his chance at comedy, Dr. Shrunk said, "Well, at least Eric seems to be hanging in there for the moment."

Among the groans and general disgust directed towards his comment in as dire straits as they were in, Majora's Mask detached itself from the mayor. The crowd of animals had little time to rejoice before the demonic force crashed through the roof of the hall, leaving a bewildered group among the rubble in its wake.

Isabelle went over to check on her husband who was okay. Many of the animals in the group actually thanked Dr. Shrunk, assuming his bad joke was enough to release Eric from the monster they saw. The shrimp blushed, and the town was happy again to have their mayor back to normal and functioning as any normal villager should.

Little did these innocent creatures know that Majora's Mask was on its way to cause unimaginable havoc, searching the galaxy for untapped potential, the most awesome power it could find.

Nintendo the heroes also found it suitable to marry couples on the onset of the New Year as well, looking to boost group morale in the second third of the steadily moving Countdown. Longtime lovers and partners in the sky, Falco Lombardi and Katt Monroe were finally united in their admittedly middle age while Silver the Hedgehog married Blaze the Cat, a newer relationship in which the two of them had just recently acknowledged their deep feelings for each other.

It was roughly three weeks past New Year's Day now, and many of Nintendo's heroes were training on Sandbag in one of the Rec Rooms on the thirty-third floor. Little Mac wailed on the happy-to-help dummy as other characters practices their abilities nearby. Mega Man was as excited to have recently upgraded his Mega Buster just as the Ice Climbers were enjoying new specially crafted mallets from the likes of King Dedede's manufacturer. These characters were relieved from their exercise as Head Chef Zess T. had ordered Chef Kawasaki to prepare a meal and serve it with Malon, who all grown now, left her life in Lon Lon Ranch to pursue serving milk on a much larger scale and to much more personable folk.

In a more intensive training area, Blaze was teaching Fox McCloud a new ability in which he summoned flames in an aerial assault. Grateful, Fox called this move the Firefox! He returned the favor by tutoring Blaze in tactical firearm use, and even though Blaze knew she could rampage through any situation without needing it, she listened intently to her leader. Trading off, Krystal was successfully teaching advanced telepathy to a very mentally adept Silver. Although Krystal ended up not having the capacity for real psychokinesis, Silver gladly sabotaged her training with it much to Krystal's urge to train on her toes more.

While all of this was going on, Ness was enjoying watching the hero trainers from the regions of the World of Pokémon practice moves with their pocket monsters as they were jokingly called by some in the Pillar. Popplio performed tricks on water bubble. Fennekin shot out flames with a yawn. Many waiting starter Pokémon were actually entranced by Stone Kirby nearby. He was practicing his different maneuvers when Ness also became intrigued by the number and variety of transformations Stone Kirby could put on display. Kirby moved from Thwomp to a 100-ton weight and more sculptures. One transformation turned Kirby golden and depicted a dog incubating a few eggs which was seen as particularly odd. Done practicing for the day, Kirby transformed one last time, yielding a sheen, golden replica of Earth's Mt. Fuji and the surrounding town, a beautiful sight to behold even in model form. Ridding himself of the ability, Mt. Fuji disappeared and Kirby with his friends went about their daily business as usual.

The heroes had no idea this was a foreshadowing of what was to come.

Three weeks had passed since the commencement of the New Year, and Majora's Mask had just now found its intended target.

Out of breath, Adam slumped to the ground on the grasses where he and his parents had been calling home for the past few weeks. Shadow was teaching his son how to run and although he certainly did not look it presently, Adam was a natural athlete and quite good at keeping up with his dad who wanted to push him hard while having fun too. Angel Island was really great for the three of them, and peace had reigned on the Island with the Master Emerald in its home again.

"Wow, that was a lot of fun. Thanks for showing me the island dad," gasped Adam.

"It was fun for me too. I really enjoy running for sport for once…and with my best friend no less," remarked Shadow.

"But you're my dad! How can I be your son and best friend too? Don't you hang out with Sonic and his other friends?"

"Well…yes, but I get tired after hanging out with most of them for too long, ha. So far, that hasn't even come close to happening with you."

As he said this, he pulled his son close, hugged him, and ruffled his already disorganized head quills as Tikal smiled and walked over to join Adam in playful protest of the act.

Finally, a happy state for Shadow and Tikal.

It was now when Majora's Mask struck, piercing the happiness.

Seemingly out of thin air, the demonic deity zoomed in and clasped onto Adam's face, turning blissful happiness into states of shock and dismay. Immediately, Shadow went to pull the thing off his son's face, but he was repulsed by a dark energy wave that left him and his wife on the ground to witness the scene that followed: Adam lost his identity and, controlled entirely by the mask, rose into the sky with a screeching cry of Majora's feminine rage. Adam's body levitated further and contorted as his orange fur became covered in the twisted tribal patterns of the mask, leaving his bodily shape the only recognizable aspect; his entire young body was like a continuation of the mask now, and nothing of his innocent personality remained.

Shadow and Tikal watched in helpless horror as their son was taken to the altar of the Master Emerald. Using the surrounding Chaos Emeralds, Majora powered up its new vessel with the wish-granting jewels. Adam and the mask that possessed his life glowed with an effervescent energy, but the Chaos Emeralds' true power was latent and was about to be developed over a course of destruction. Absorbing all of the negative energy the emeralds had to offer, Majora rejoiced as she no longer had any use for enhancements to her power. With a divisive push of dark energy, the now wasted Chaos Emeralds were shot from Mobius and spread millions of miles across the galaxy, endangering the balance of the floating isle and ruining any hopes of finding the gems for a positive counterattack against the monster. Now, the beast and Majora, finally realizing a proper vessel with Adam's blood and the immense power of the emeralds, flew with incredible speed into space, leaving two desperate parents behind on the grasses of their home.

Majora's Perfect Chaos descended onto the planet Earth and proceeded to decimate the city of Mt. Fuji. The deity, possessing the son of the ultimate life form, started small and walked amongst men as it used lightning quick attacks and dark magic to subdue frightened citizens and destroy skyscrapers from the inside out, causing dangerous flaming explosions that had no need for the volcano in the city's wake.

It was then, however, that the beast began to grow, muscles pulsating with unbridled rage and desire for destruction, much more effectively so as when Majora's Wrath faced off against the Hero of Time's Fierce Deity. The seismic activity from the growing beast activated the long thought dormant volcano, and Mt. Fuji was laid to waste. All the while, Adam was unaware of his possessed being's actions, in a state of trance under the evil Majora.

Majora's Perfect Chaos was hundreds of feet tall now but was still undergoing transformation among the skyscrapers the beast now dwarfed. A circular pattern began to appear on the massive abdomen of Adam, and the pure energy from the fully realized negativity of the Chaos Emeralds collected there. Before the remaining citizens had any time to react, Majora's Perfect Chaos emitted an awful laser beam from its stomach, a pure white light that, while disintegrating nearby building tops, actually obliterated the volcano in Majora's unfocused power in hatred. Frustrated and leaving only a quarter of Mt. Fuji's inhabitants alive for hopes of survival, Adam and Majora rocked off elsewhere in the galaxy to inflict more concentrated pain and misery.

As quickly as their son had destroyed the lives of millions already, Shadow with Tikal used chaos control to warp to the Pillar. They were in dire need of a way to find their boy and to stop the destruction they assumed he and the monster would be causing.

Televised news of the destruction of Mt. Fuji was reaching the Nintendo heroes as the hedgehog and echidna arrived, and the team was already making plans to stop the beast they viewed from the eyes of interglobal reporter, Kelly Atlas.

Shadow stumbled upon Sonic who quickly spread the word through the base to the heroes that would no doubt be called to action by Fox McCloud, whom Tikal went to directly with the details of the unfortunate incident and origin of the monster he saw. From another timeline, the older Hero of Time consulted with his paradoxical younger self as details were soon confirmed about the emerged presence of Majora once more. The group of heroes, noting that it took the transformation of Link into a god to destroy the mask alone coupled with the fact that only the positive energy of the Chaos Emeralds could counteract the negative, were stuck into a hard spot with only one solution: locate and find the Chaos Emeralds to defeat the beast to have any chance of stopping the destruction and saving the newest and most innocent member of them all.

Having not the faintest idea of where to look first, the team debated about whether to sit and calculate where the emeralds might have gone or simply not waste time and start looking. Fox, usually the adept leader, could not reign in the conversation of scores of his followers and consulted many for advice on the situation. Still, the large debate was not getting anywhere.

Scholar Goombella, late to the meeting, was urgently studying the incarcerated Crystal Stars as they were glowing absurdly for some reason. Trying to forget after musing about it for minutes, she decided to head off to the meeting but paused once more as she remembered about the mystical map. What she found in the nearest drawer was unnerving and exciting; Goombella had observed the news about the impossible creature and overheard talk amongst her teammates of its nature outside her study, so she now had a hunch about what it all meant regarding the Crystal Stars and the search for the Chaos Emeralds.

Her short stature a challenge, Goombella rushed to find Fox in the midst of arguing and frustrated heroes. What eventually Fox heard through all this chaos was very promising, and with the help of the loyal Donkey Kong, everyone quieted down quick for their leader.

"It seems as if hope is still on our side, everyone! By no means will it be easy, but somehow I think we've found our solution."

Nintendo gathered around the mystical treasure map of years ago to see its contents changed drastically from before in the Mushroom Kingdom. With the power of the Crystal Stars nearby, the map glowed with illustrations of what looked to be the locations of each Chaos Emerald throughout the galaxy but on this one map. Before them lied the snowy peaks of the first DK Island, the underground labyrinth of Mobius's United Federation capital Central City, the arid western sands of Hyrule's Gerudo, the haunting perpetual land of darkness near creepy steeple (an area unremoved), the bustling "Big Banana" of Eagleland's very own Fourside, the outlandishly wild foliage of Norion under the Galactic Federation, and the stark, hollowed-out surface of the Lylat System's Macbeth that were unmistakably recognized by Fox and his team.

Judging by the new locations on the map and the original correlations of where approximately the Crystal Stars were found, a plan was formulated. With a hoard of battleships at their disposal including the Great Fox and Meta Knight's Halberd, reinforcements of heroes decided to stay on board those ships traveling throughout the galaxy as they dropped off small squadrons at each location to find the Chaos Emeralds and, with prayer enhanced by the nature of the Crystal Stars, return the jewels to their former state.

Plan in hand, the heroes took off without any hesitation and ventured into the abyss of space in which the Chaos Emeralds were scattered.

Majora's Perfect Chaos continued its rampage in the meantime, relishing in the hopping back and forth and back again amongst several different planets. After having invaded one of Earth's major cities, the beast warped with the power of chaos control to the peaceful Aquas. The citizens there were prepared for quick evacuation into the seas, but they could not be saved from the devastation of Adam's laser that pierced the waves with full force as the deity waded into the Aquas oceans.

Tiring of underwater assaults and wanting to get a better glimpse of the harm she was causing, Majora proceeded to Pop Star, a planet whose Yogurt Yard and Cookie Country inhabitants had no chance of avoiding the powerful attacks of a monster they did not expect.

The wildlife too, of Tallon IV, was not safe, and many feral creatures and dormant plants and fungi perished upon the visit of Majora's Adam.

The Fire Emblem countryside of Khadein was also devastated, and the peoples there had no warning and no way to fathom the consistent attacks on their lives and their villages.

In the cruelest of destinies, Majora's Perfect Chaos laid waste to Station Square as if the poor population of survivors there had not enough pain the first go-around with the original Perfect Chaos. This time, at least, the deaths were swifter; there was no drowning in the vaporizing heat of Majora's laser or underneath the might of Adam's giant soles.

It was decided that the Halberd would conduct the tour of Trinity as presumably four of the Chaos Emeralds resided there while the Great Fox partook in the real leg work, heading to, at first, Mobius, followed by Norion and Macbeth.

The first stop for the team and the Knight's ship was the original Donkey Kong Island, a search for the cyan emerald with the diamond star in possession. The dark wings of the battleship rippled the waves and increased the tide near the old treehouse as the Halberd soared to the top of the mountain. No time for landing, the first squadron of heroes descended a rope ladder into the white blizzard that awaited them below.

Once on the summit of Gorilla Glacier, animal guides Donkey and Diddy Kong led Sonic, Amy and Mewtwo through to where the emerald was thought to be frozen. For each group, Peach with the map in hand aboard the Halberd, guided her comrades through communication via earpiece, but Mewtwo's telepathy here was enough to maintain communication. It was a game of getting warmer in the freezing cold to find the emerald, but the Kongs were doing well in the slippery terrain of Snow Barrel Blast Canyon.

It was when the group of five came upon the ice cave that they were first accosted by what they assumed where enemies' silhouettes. Mewtwo prepared to do some serious mental harm when they fully appeared, but Sonic immediately sprang into action. The vacationing Kong family of Candy, Cranky, Funky, Kiddie, Chunky and Lanky did not expect to see the flash of blue streak toward them through the white. Heck, they were only investigating a long since abandoned island because of the evil-looking ship they had seen earlier.

The Great Fox reached its first stop at Central City in the heart of the United Federation and the lands of Mobius occupied by the humans. Slippy's father, Beltino Toad, notified Peach of their arrival from the mothership. Peach's earpiece communication with Rouge led the bat's boyfriend to a familiar manhole on Route 101. The couple along with followers Vivian the Shadow Siren, Hammer the Hammer Brother, Lucario and Solid Snake, contracted for this assignment from his extensive rest in the Pillar, entered the sewers of Central City, the Aquatic Mine. None of them, not even Snake or Rouge, knew of the spies following behind them.

Vivian, even in the midst of all the terrible circumstances around her, could not help but enjoy finally working on a mission with her boyfriend, Hammer, of thirteen months now and to be led through it by her old friend, the Princess. Lucario was actually also quite glad to see the old man whose aura he sensed pure all those years ago be working with them on a mission once more as well. Obviously smitten more than they ever have been, Knuckles and Rouge made short work of swimming and lowering the water levels for the rest of the group to continue as the sextet made short work of the higher levels and delved deeper into the mines before them, with an emerald star in hand searching for an also green chaos emerald.

"I can't even believe any of this is happening," said a despondent Tikal, holding back tears, as the Halberd reached its second destination, the Gerudo Desert, this time in the Era of Twilight Sonic's time-altering actions in Subspace brought to the surface every now and again in Hyrule. Shadow tried to comfort her, but he knew he could not; he was feeling just as terrible, the only difference being that much of the emotion he felt was centered on vengeance. Both parents were a little relieved to finally be of use in the effort to save their son.

Holding the gold star in his hand rather than the yellow emerald they were now searching for was something Shadow never would have imagined he would be doing, and the surprise did not stop coming when he learned of how they were getting off. This third squadron including Shadow, Tikal, Kirby, Yoshi and the heroes from Hyrule leaped from the ship on board the loyal Plessie.  
The landing was surprisingly smooth as Plessie's belly skirted along the arid sands with the legendary Chosen Hero, Hero of Time, Hero of Winds, Hero of Legend, Hero of Hyrule, Hero of the Minish, Hero of the Four Sword, Hero of Light, Hero of a New Hyrule, and simply The Hero, as they were known in their respective times, atop her back. After disembarking, those clad in green led the rest of the heroes into a villainous camp of marauders on the horizon of the desert all while a mysterious group of four onlookers witnessed everything from the western tower of Lake Hylia.

As these heroes were sprinting the sands of the western Gerudo, the Halberd happened upon its third stop: Twilight Town of the Mushroom Kingdom. Armed with the ruby star, Goombella was prepared to make easy work of familiar territory. Joining her was her boyfriend Ludwig Von Koopa, the Hero of Twilight, the Twilight Princess and Star Wolf pilots Leon and Panther. Princess Toadstool sent the three couples out into the residential area, fortunately pig-free but hiding a familiar menace in its woods.

Goombella had high hopes that obtaining the bright red chaos emerald would be much quicker than and not quite as difficult as it had been years ago in Mario's party finding another red gem. This inkling was backed up in many ways by the support of Ludwig, someone who she had heard stories of and, considering her prior conflicts with his father, was initially disposed to dislike. However, when his musical career (conducting the Koopa King's Orchestra) brought him to Goom University in Rogueport, her opinion changed drastically as the young archeologist fell in love.

Feelings were reciprocated by this apple that fell far from the Koopa tree, and the pair were happier than ever, even though Kamella's dastardly plan to use the Koopalings' magic power for evil, brainwashing them through their magic wands that for the majority of the siblings they had not used for years. Before Goombella broke his wand, breaking the curse, a giant monster of a Ludwig not under his own control stormed through the Rogueport sewers and did a lot of damage just as his brothers and sister had done elsewhere. The new couple also helped in the restoring of Ludwig's siblings' original sense, which for Iggy in particular, was not that stable to begin with.

It was around this time that poser Panther Caroso stopped being a lady's man and came out, true to himself finally, partners with Leon Powalski. Needless to say, that was a shock for the remainder of their squadron being just Wolf, but he and others around them gradually began to accept their new relationship. Steadfast as well was the fated love of the Twilight Princess and the Hero of said realm as Midna steered her wolf partner through the woods upon the Twilight Trail. With ruby star in hand, the group of six rushed ahead to the Creepy Steeple. Unbeknownst to them, the entire Glitz Pit was also heading in that direction.

The final area for departure of the Halberd's crew was on the opposite side of the planet from DK Island, the metropolis Fourside of Eagleland. The King Dedede led his new type of royal entourage with the sapphire star in their possession to retrieve the deep blue chaos emerald. In his band were the psychic heroes Ness and Lucas, now nearly adults, the Mario Brothers, the Princess Zelda of the Era of the Hero of Time disguised as her Sheikah alter ego and the fiery Pokémon Blaziken.

Landing in the nearby desert of Dusty Dunes to avoid being noticed, the group touched ground without a hitch. Now the Halberd was off, leaving Trinity behind to catch up with the Great Fox across the galaxy currently heading for the planet Norion. Fox anticipated needing all the air support they could get on their final stop of Macbeth.

Sheik led the group through the desert sands, but when they reached the highway, Ness took the lead as he was still quite familiar with the mostly unchanged cityscape of Fourside. The crystal star was leading them all into the heart of the city, quite the different setting compared to where the other chaos emeralds landed. It led them to the main tower, the Monotoli Building, smack in the heart of the city.

Ness knew from experience how hard it was to get in without special permission, even if Enrich Flavor was now in charge, so he nonchalantly walked to the nearby drug store to think things over and ask around for information on the current Fourside politics. He needed to find out how stringent or lax the restrictions to admittance had become. On his errand, the others' desire not to be noticed was not panning out as some group of five spotted the young man and his group.

While everyone else save the King went to follow Ness and struggle to blend into the obviously uncomfortable for some urban setting, Dedede approached the valet in front of the tower. A fat stack of gold in his coat and the announcement of his royalty from a far-off land was enough to persuade a mayoral visit for him and his friends. Dedede waddled quickly to get his group back to the tower, any amount of undercover work now unnecessary due to the King's generosity. The rest of the group was honestly taken a bit aback by the King's financial sacrifice, especially Sheik, but what awaited the gang when they entered the foyer was even more unexpected.

While the Halberd was just departing Trinity, the Great Fox was breaching the Norion atmosphere. The ship's inhabitants were poised for a fight since cooperating Galactic Federation scouts had informed McCloud of the space pirate invasion. Word spread quickly about an all-powerful jewel, and the rivals of the cosmic police force were not going to let the Federation have it, even if the aliens were lacking leadership and were relatively unprepared compared to their standings in previous conquests.

Infused with the only known remaining Metroid DNA and still wanted as a fugitive from the Galactic Federation, Samus had seemingly foolishly volunteered for this part of the mission. She did so because of two reasons: she was informed of her old friend Anthony Higgs being on the GF strike team on Norion, and she felt protected from the law with her Nintendian brothers and sisters at her side. She knew true friends would neither incarcerate her nor let that happen. These friends and team members included Silver and Blaze, Emblem heroes Marth and Ike, and Falco and Katt Monroe in the air.

When they leaped from the end of the docking bay, the group knew the purple chaos emerald was somewhere in the midst of the jungles of the planet that were now shrouded in sleek-armored soldiers and destruction published by the space pirates. Ike had the garnet star in his possession, ready to give power back to the emerald they were searching for. Silver attempted at reading the vile thoughts of the terrorists, but all he could discern through the emotions beneath the foreign vernacular was that they were at a disadvantage to Nintendo, having no idea of the location of the emerald. The heroes had their crystal star and each other, and they began to tear through the hordes and varieties of space pirates.

Making the trip through half the galaxy at the speed of light, the Great Fox arrived with the remaining heroes and spaceships in tow in orbit above the former mining planet and supply depot, Macbeth. Through the resource exhaustion caused by the rest of the Lylat System and the military utilization of the planet by Venom in the Lylat Wars, the planet became a sight for extreme natural geological and meteorological disasters due to the hollowed out core of this third planet of the Lylat System.

On this seventh and final stop of the mission, Fox tired of giving orders and needed to jump into the fray. Even decades after the demise of Andross and the end of Venom's ill-meaning relations with Corneria and the other democratic planets, Andross's dream lived on still in his nephew and the brigands leftover from an older age albeit them being much less sophisticated about their rebellion than the evil, mad scientist was. It was unknown of whether or not the grandson Dash Bowman condoned the behavior of these brigands, but unless the Venomian ruler wanted to disperse aid, the Cornerian military and Fox's mercenary team did not care. These Venomian brigands swarmed the barren planet of Macbeth, their main base, and team Star Fox was about to head right into the thick of their ranks on the surface.

More akin to mixing his personal life with his work in his older age, Fox brought along his wife and his friendly rival Wolf to fly the skies with him and Lucy and her newly upgraded Wolfen machine. On the ground, the Great Fox deployed Captain Falcon in his Blue Falcon to sweep the surface while he could also control his legendary Falcon Flyer by remote. Tails also joined in the air with his Blue Tornado, ready to transform it to a ground craft at moment's notice. The assault began, and Meta Knight's Halberd, unknowingly being followed, came into view of the rest of the team right in time. It was time to finish the search for the seven Chaos Emeralds with an effort to find the white gem with the crystal star.

Majora's Perfect Chaos continued to cause more carnage. It warped across the galaxy, tearing through the fabrics of space and time, to lay down more crazed judgment upon the souls of innocents. Slaughters took place in Dalaam, Eladard, Gusty Gulch, the Kingdom of Isaach of Jugdral and Angelopolis of Mandrill IV. The unstable deity and her brainwashed child would surely reach more destinations fated for obliteration by the time the heroes' plan would prove successful.

Back in the Northern Hemispheres, Sonic and company were apologizing to the band of primates who they mistook for enemies. Sonic had not time to slow down completely, so extra good grace was asked for from Candy Kong who was knocked into a pile of snow and ice. For some reason, she seemed more upset with her boyfriend DK than anyone else.

"Thanks for letting this little animal rush me like that, DK!"

Donkey's disability to understand his girlfriend's sarcastic tone could not even be translated before the indignant Sonic burst out, "Hey, lady! I'm not little, and I'm not just any animal; I'm the fastest thing alive on this planet or any other!"

"It's true," chimed in Amy. "And if I were you, I wouldn't pick any fights with any of us. We're on a very important mission, and besides, you all just sneaked up on us in the blizzard. What reaction did you expect?!"

"And who are you?!" asked Candy as she completely ignored the question.

"I'm HIS boyfriend," answered Amy motioning towards Sonic with her hefty Piko Piko Hammer in hand.

In the meanwhile during the argument between Candy and Amy and the failed efforts of their boyfriends to calm them down, Diddy caught up with his family members that he had not seen in a while like Uncle Funky and an even larger, grown up Kiddy Kong. He was even bigger than his older brother Chunky now.

"This is enough!" rang Mewtwo's telepathic voice in the heads of all present. "We still have a job to do. If we don't find that emerald soon, that boy could die! For those of you who just showed, you can either join us in finding what we're looking for or leave the way you came."

Putting their bickering and catching up aside for now, the Kong family unanimously decided to join Nintendo's quest and followed the gang into the area nicknamed by the Kongs "Slipslide Ride." And once inside, it was not hard for the other non-simian heroes to get that meaning. Sonic, who had initially tried running through to find the emerald as quick as possible, slipped, slid, fell and landed hard on his tail. Many of the others did as well, even the more experienced DK and his nephew.

This was a problem in the cave filled with Neckies and Klaptraps until Mewtwo thought of something. Using his psychokinesis but neglecting his telekinesis to warn every one of their impending levitation, Mewtwo lifted everyone else off their feet, so that they could all soar through the crystals together and fast.

It was not long now before they came upon the epicenter of Gorilla Glacier, and as expected, they found the blackened chaos emerald nested within a shroud of crystals on the other side of the chamber. The diamond star was reverberating in Amy's hand, and she along with the rest of the group desperately wanted to turn the other gem back to its cyan hue. Once they got closer however, a long-forgotten monster appeared from the side: Army Dillo still without his iron shell. Donkey Kong wished he had brought his coconut gun, but he was not too worried as he seemed harmless without any weapons. Before any of the group went to move past the creature though, Army Dillo waddled to the center of the chamber, allowing his new home to bestow upon him a new shell with side cannons made of ice. Nintendo found out immediately that they could fire ammunition as well. The Army Dillo had seemingly made this old island his new home for a long while, rearmed after his defeats in Jungle Japes and the Crystal Caves at the hands of DK. The Kongs and their friends prepared for a rematch, ready to fight for the chaos emerald.

Knuckles and Rouge may have lowered the water levels for the rest of the group to proceed, but that did not mean that no one else had to get their feet wet. In fact, Snake and Lucario looked equally as soggy as the treasure hunter duo did as swimming dozens of feet underwater was a necessity to delve deeper to where the green emerald lay.

Hammer and Vivian on the other hand were completely dry. The water-shy boyfriend had asked the Shadow Siren to take him down instantly to solid ground level when descending the sewers into the shadowy disappearance at the bottom of each pool. This veil tactic worked allowing both Hammer and herself to pop out of her always grounded shadow at the exit of each waterway.

It was not long before the six heroes, evenly split amongst stealth and fighting styles and corresponding personas, made it to the very bottom, perceived that way at least, of the Aquatic Mine. They were readying their respective tactics when they alarmingly turned around, noticing more bubbles coming up from the bottom of the water. All were surprised to see Guardian Units of Nations (GUN) troops rise from the depths, guns aiming right at them.

The obvious leader spoke quickly, "Put down your weapons. These are friendlies."

After the leader took his helmet off, Rouge got an extra dose of surprise as the captain of the GUN troop turned out to be the former president of the United Federation, the same one who came to herald Gerald Robotnik as a hero, had his limousine broken into by Sonic and Tails, and still had his picture of Shadow and Sonic on his desk.

"Mr. President! It's great to see you!" said Rouge.

"Likewise."

"Pardon my asking, but could you tell us why you were following us and why you're even commanding forces? I would've assumed you retired."

"When my presidency ended, I wanted to be an inspiration still, so I returned to GUN as a platoon commander. Since I'm not considered an old man yet, they accepted me again. And addressing the point of following you, Rouge, I'm sure you can understand our suspicions when we received a call regarding a camouflaged man and a few forest animals climbing into the sewers."

"Well, that person has a keen eye, but as you can see, we're not posing any trouble, only searching for something to help our friend."

"I see. Well, I hope the rest of your friends at the Pillar are more concerned with ridding our planets of that cancer that's been terrorizing the galaxy. Station Square has again been decimated by a monster…"

Knuckles chimed in, "Our quest actually concerns that very matter, but it's too long of a tale and explanation to bother with that right now. And I'm pleased to meet you Mr. President. I'm one of the only of Sonic's acquaintances who hasn't met you in person."

"Pleased to meet you too, Knuckles the Echidna," said the former president reaching out to meet Knuckles' outstretched hand in courtesy, shaking it vigorously. "Of course I've heard of your heroic efforts over the years just the same nonetheless."

During this talk, Hammer and Lucario took the emerald star a little bit further into the maze of tunnels and were excited to see it react with a pulsating shine and vibrations. They hurriedly returned to the rest of the group, ready to finish the mission.

Rouge kept the commander busy with a myriad of topics while Knuckles, Snake and Vivian went back to the suspected tunnel. No one could see the emerald, so Knuckles began digging wherever he could.

"I think we'll just stay here until you find what you're looking for. Who knows? You might be able to use our assistance," said the commander to Rouge.

Meanwhile, no one could help a frustrated Knuckles who had been digging to no avail for several minutes. Hammer noticed that according to the emerald star's vibrations, the chaos emerald seemed to keep moving underground constantly. A grimy and sweaty Knuckles continued to dig for longer, his chest heaving more and more with the rage he was exhibiting on the dirt. He did so until Rouge came in and volunteered to take over for him. She had Vivian go keep the GUN soldiers busy by introducing herself while Knuckles swallowed his pride, took a breather and let his better half go to work.

Giving him little time to rest easy, Snake asked Knuckles, "How come you appeared so disgruntled when those GUN officers showed up? I noticed you seemed put off at first."

"Let's just say GUN hasn't always been the most ethical of police forces. Their semi-corrupt military has mistakenly accused Sonic and the many of us of crimes we never committed. Sure, they've helped us in the past too, but only after trying to gun us down."

"Gun. Was that a pun, Knuckles?" asked Hammer.

"No," was the simple answer put.

Lucario spoke up: "Of course I can't speak for their entire military organization, but I can sense this troop's auras. They all seem pure to me."

"And I believe you," responded Knuckles.

Digging with her feet instead of her hands, Rouge's boot bumped into something soft, squishy and…unusual-feeling while underground. When she resurfaced, she at first saw the slightly agape mouths and surprised faces of her cohorts. Turning around, she saw it too: the floating chaos emerald.

At this, she shot her boyfriend a teasing smile and a sensual wink; it took her practically no time at all compared to Knuckles' failed attempts at searching. His response was an intense and quiet stare, a look a mixture of frustration and pouting. Sometimes he hated her.

"Oh, come on, big guy! It doesn't _necessarily_ mean I'm better than you," said Rouge as she physically pushed Knuckles around. "There can be luck involved in a find, and I'm just luckier."

For some reason, her continued teasing softened Knuckles up a bit, and he joined in on the playful act. "Just shut up," he said.

Breaking the mood, Snake said, "Uh, guys…we can't catch the emerald. It won't stop flying all over the place…"

As if on cue, the spectral being that was carrying the dead emerald solidified, revealing himself to be the King Boom Boo in all his laughing splendor. The multicolored tongue stared old rival Knuckles right in the face.

"Him again…you have got to be kidding me…"

But it was not a joke, and the Shadow Siren led a willing GUN patrol into battle with an unbeatable ghost who mocked with his possession of the chaos emerald.

Shadow's immense sadness was turning into impatient, ever-burning fury as he skated across the sands now far ahead of the rest of his gang. He would have wanted to stay with and console his wife Tikal, but he was more taken with the certainty that every second now would count for his poor son. In only moments, Shadow ran past all the thieves and reached the entrance to the Arbiter's Grounds. Once inside, any obstacle or puzzle that stood in his way was swiftly obliterated with a chaos blast or spear. The gold star was leading him to the top of this desert tower.

In an effort to make themselves feel useful, the rest of the heroes dealt with the marauders familiar to the Gerudo Desert. They could at least make Shadow's return trip a little smoother. Scout Kirby spotted the first encampment while floating in the air above the desert mesa assorted with sandy fault lines that the rest of the group was careful to avoid and go around. Yoshi, on the other hand, would flutter jump over them. Needless to say, they were all off Plessie now as a fast-moving, heavy plesiosaur would spell disaster in this unstable environment. She was having trouble navigating her bulk around the faults as it was on her own anyway. Link, the Hero of Time, was pleased to guide her to safety. He had made it through the Haunted Wasteland of the past after all.

On their way to the encampment, the group admired how quiet they all were. Tikal was despondent, the infantile Kirby could not speak more than greetings unsuitable for this situation, Yoshi and Plessie did not converse with each other, sensing the somber mood of their partner, and the heroes of Hyrule were never ones for public speaking anyway, even if it was among comrades.

Even though the camp of Bulblins saw the heroes coming through the heat distortion of the desert, the Links and company made very fast work of them with bows from afar and parallel Master Swords up close. Tikal even managed to tame the Bullbos, so they would not attack. Now, Link would not have to slay the boar-like beasts either. It was fortunate that they did not mind Yoshi, little known to be an omnivore, and Kirby eating one of their cousins from the cooking spikes as well. The meaty carcass was devoured by these characters as the rest of the squadron decided to wait in the former thieves' encampment for Shadow to return.

Out of nowhere, The Resistance showed up through a magic portal that appeared to be summoned from the Ancient Sky Book in Shad's hands. The group of the scholar, Rusl, Auru and Ashei introduced themselves to the strangers and worked to settle down any upset heartbeats. With all these green tunic-clad heroes present, The Resistance had hoped to see the Link of their era. When they were told he was off in another part of the globe, they could not help but think it was their luck. They explained how they had wanted to help the heroes get rid of the Bulblin tribe, but it turned out that it did not really matter that Shad could not get his new spell to work right the first few times.

The Resistance joined Nintendo in waiting for Shadow to come back with the yellow emerald in tow. Once everybody got comfortable however, Shadow burst out through the roof of the Arbiter's Tower, landing a little hurt in the sand near the encampment. Tikal and the rest rushed over to help him up, but Shadow was not worried about himself.

Instead, he urged, "Get ready to fight! I have a feeling this thing's not going to go down easily."

The magically infused Twilit Fossil Stallord broke through his confining tower and dragged his way through the sands of the Gerudo, slowly approaching the encampment. He was more powerful than he was centuries ago, and the Fallen Coalition must have added a little dash of Dimentio magic to Zant's evil blade that gave Stallord its power. Everyone gasped or stared at the monster dumbstruck but only for a moment. Learning to accept the unexpected, the Nintendian heroes and their newfound supporters readied themselves for a tough bout with resurrected history.

The loadstone of the Glitz Pit was calibrated, and the swarms of fighters and fans began to descend on their floating settlement into the Twilight Woods.

Meanwhile, the sextet had reached the Creepy Steeple gate entrance. Wolf Link dug underneath the steel bars, and Midna used her dark magic to cut away the lock on the other side to let everyone else in. The premises were empty; they were even lacking any ghosts or ghoulish spirits of Koopa bone.

Panther remarked, "It's incredibly quiet. What use are all six of us right now? There's nothing to fight."

"Yes. Sending all of us 'badasses' is seeming to have been quite unnecessary," added the cynic Leon.

"Don't feel too certain, you too. Our mission isn't over yet, and Goombella says this place can be deceiving," said Ludwig in rebuttal. Goombella, usually one to stand up for her own ideas, never minded if Ludwig did it. Much against her tough persona, she blushed at him half-admittedly. To reestablish her self-concept, she moved in front to lead the way through familiar territory.

The move up the chambers and stairs of the Creepy Steeple went uneventfully. The same moving staircase and broken balconies were present, and they posed no challenge to the heroes. Before they entered the door that led to the spiral stairwell, something a little eerie happened to Panther. For a tough pilot ready to fight, he jumped quite a lot into the air when something invisible tapped his right shoulder.

The entity mewed and showed itself as a lone Boo, seemingly lost from the rest of his pack or pretending to be that way at the least. It cried, "Does anyone want to play?!"

Something within Midna immediately softened when the little guy appeared, and she asked if he was lost and where his family was. The Boo said he was and that he did not know and went to go pet Link who was half appreciative and half annoyed of being pet by the ghost. Goombella warned of getting too attached to it and was wary of some trick it might pull.

Midna, who had also taken a liking to her spunky partner, said, "We'll be fine. How about you four go get that emerald while we keep this little fella busy down here."

They were unanimous in thinking that a fine idea. It had been so quiet for the whole mission until this point anyway, so the quartet entered the next chamber and proceeded up the spiral staircase.

In the twilight air, Jolene lost control of the Glitz Pit loadstone, and the entire plaza came off-course, crashing arena first into the top of the Creepy Steeple where the four heroes had just entered.

The colossal crash beckoned Link and Midna, and the Boo also followed them quickly up the stairwell.

Here only to investigate, the Glitz Pit and its residents were considered to be threats by everyone except Goombella because of the accidental attack. However, it was a threatened resident that was the most unhappy to have his home invaded by two parties. He was by far the most disgruntled. He thought his Creepy Steeple was invaded probably for the pretty, black gem that had fallen into his lap earlier. Goombella, of course, recognized this being as Doopliss, the copycat trickster who had now returned to his home and was about to return to his dastardly tricks.

The dead, black chaos emerald sat on a pedestal in front of the heroes in Fourside. It was the main piece for auction at the seventh annual Flavorful Gala. And the wealthy patrons and entrepreneurs of Eagleland were lining up to place their initial offers in the silent bid. King Dedede thought it be best if he won this auction in order to avoid any conflict or explanation. He went up to wait in line while the rest of the heroes stood behind grateful and impressed.

"Since when has that penguin king become so generous with his wealth? I thought that, where he came from, he was known as a corrupt and greedy ruler," Sheik whispered to Ness and Luigi. Mario, Lucas and Blaziken were looking out for any suspicious activity in the meantime.

"He used to be like that, I guess, but I always knew him as a caring leader and friend…he began his new leaf a long time ago, and even his old nemesis is great friends with him now. He's matured, and even if he hadn't, we should still be grateful. Whatever he's sacrificing in money is making our mission a lot less complicated and saving Adam's life one gold piece at a time," answered Ness. With a thick accent, Luigi heartily agreed.

"Hmm, maybe I had misjudged him. As a royal who's defaced her kingdom with her mistakes, I have no right to bestow judgment on anyone, let alone creatures from other worlds…."

The event transitioned into the live auction now, and the bidding became hectic. The jewel was not shining, but its perfect form and subtle glow of energy inside was beckoning the other mystified moguls. By the end of it, the King won, but his overzealous bid cost him plenty and in various currencies. This was so much the case that Dedede was forced to call on Bandana Dee, the surrogate king whenever the Big Dee was away, for a transaction from Dreamland of much of his gold and stuff he had collected from other places: coins from the Mushroom Kingdom, rupees of Hyrule, Galactic Federation and Lylatian Credits, Ylissean bullion, exports of golden bananas and crystal coconuts, rings from Mobius and even enough bells to pay off a neighborhood of expensive houses. All the money went into that emerald, and the King was officially broke. He would never have his friends know that though, and he just turned to them with an awkward smile when the deal was complete.

Once the glass was lifted from the emerald's pedestal, the seven heroes were ever so eager to take it with them, their short excursion to this tourist's attraction over with. But then, he struck. Pokey (Porky) Minch had returned! In his own personally built spider-mech this time, the spoiled brat burst through the Monotoli Building of old, the same one his parents had tried to exert their influence on over nearly a decade before. This was the first time Ness had seen his childhood nemesis in years, but the wounds of the far future seemed all too fresh for Lucas. And the kicker was that the menacing pig boy, who still looked as young as before in his mech to Ness, picked on poor Lucas again for him, but Porky relished in his teasing for the first time in what is time's stagnant history, one that disregards the divine time travel of the Master Hand.

The mechanized tendrils tore apart the parlor while the heroes tried to lead Porky to the outside streets where the battle would continue to take place. The Runaway Five jumped in to distract the villain with an amusing and heckling performance. It was a show for all of Fourside to marvel in terror and awe at.

More confident and sure of himself than he had ever been, Silver the Hedgehog fought alongside the love of his life and soulmate Blaze the Cat. Empowered by his feelings for her as well, the series of events that led them to be together through recent admissions of love and tales of tragedy blinked before them in their minds as they laid waste to space pirate scum on Norion.

 _"_ _Arrrgh! It's no USE!"_

 _Silver was incredibly frustrated. Not only did he continually lose to Blaze in their sparring bouts, but the hedgehog was also feeling like he was not getting any better in terms of his fighting prowess and psychic abilities._

 _"_ _Oh, stifle it, Silver. You're getting better all the time, just like me. That's why we do this. Maybe if you're not seeing the point in it, we should stop."_

 _Upset but not stupid, Silver replied harshly, "Of course we can't stop. And I guess I'm just impatient. The universe was just given a year to live, and we'll have to have the power of gods to stop that sentence from being delivered…maybe if we practiced even more, we'd be further along…"_

 _"_ _I understand. And I'm definitely looking forward to kicking your butt even more," said Blaze with half seriousness and half playful teasing._

 _"_ _Yeah, well…maybe I just go easy on you because I don't want you to get hurt…"_

 _"_ _Ha! Don't insult me, Silver. Nor yourself."_

 _"_ _I'm just saying if we used the optimum potential of our pyro- and psychokinetic powers, I might win for once."_

 _"_ _Possibly…but you know what we have to conserve those for."_

 _"_ _You're right. I guess it's that time again…we'd better go fix the city up some more."_

 _Blaze and Silver were on their way to flame-engulfed Crisis City, sealed away in a pocket of space-time Time Eater left on the world of Mobius before its defeat at the hands of the Sonics years ago. Neither cat nor hedgehog knew of the Time Eater's origin as Solaris in the time that was reset in Eggman's attacks on Soleanna that never happened. The visions of the future allowed Silver to glimpse into the past the one time he confronted the Time Eater and found the portal to another dimension in which the city stood in flames, flames him and Blaze would have known had Solaris been born. Time Eater had all the possible outcomes of any future in his will to create, and this led Silver and Blaze through destiny unchanged by the time continuum to be the saviors of a city ablaze in another dimension. None of their other friends knew of this place, but Silver had felt comfortable acknowledging the existence of Crisis City to his best friend and dimension-hopping princess Blaze._

 _Every time they traveled through the Mobian portal to an apocalyptic Soleanna, they were discouraged ever slightly. They accomplished much of the purging of the area every day, but it seemed like the monsters replenished the storms of lava as fast as they dispelled them. Blaze used her body as a vessel to harness the fires of the city and purify them through smoke and ash that burned through her body and emitted from her fur, uncharred._

 _Sometimes Silver, while erecting again toppled buildings and bridges, caught the chance to look over at his partner doing her part of the work. He would admire everything about her: the determination, the poise, the form and her inspiring strength in compassion. She was fixing a world that he had found for the people of another dimension to live again in Crisis City. As if Blaze was not already doing enough for him by training and honing his powers for the end of the world Silver thought, she was also helping him rebuild a world he felt tied to his own fate, not hers. Silver always had a deep affection for Blaze, but now his feelings for her were becoming unbearable in their intensity and at the thought of them not being reciprocated. At best, Silver had always thought that she saw him as a friend or a brother._

 _This particular cleansing of the city, more was fixed up than ever before, and Silver thanked Blaze the Cat incessantly for her help, just like he did every time._

 _"_ _Silver…ugh, I seriously want you to quit thanking me. You have sweet intentions, but you're starting to tick me off a bit more every time."_

 _"_ _I'm sorry…I just want you to know how grateful I am, I guess. I never want you to feel obligated to do this for me."_

 _"_ _I KNOW you're grateful, Silver, but I'm not performing a service for you. We're friends and partners; your actions in that hellhole are just as noble and selfless as mine are. So thank you as well."_

 _"_ _You're welcome, Blaze…I'm glad you've always been such a good friend. I guess I won't thank you for that, though…haha."_

 _"_ _Oh shut up," replied Blaze, cheerfully pushing him around before Chaos Control took them back home._

 _Weeks began to pass in the Year of Absolution, and their training continued. One day, a messenger arrived at the Pillar with urgent news from the Sol dimension, Blaze's birth home. He was led up to the fireproof training room. He informed Blaze mid-training of her official banishment from her kingdom, the renouncement of her title as princess and familial disowning all courtesy of her estranged father. Blaze had left her home with the Sol emeralds long ago as she knew the Chaos dimension needed them and her more. That decision to leave had led to these announcements from the king, her father, and while Blaze was livid deep down, she accepted and had expected the news. Once the messenger left to return to Sol, Silver approached a conflicted Blaze in the wake of her disillusionment as perceived by the naïve hedgehog._

 _"_ _Blaze…I'm so, so sorry. Part of this has to be my fault. I never…"_

 _"_ _Stop, Silver! My past is of no value to me, no matter who's in it. I've always been alone in my pursuits. This news just solidifies that. I was born to protect people and protect the Sol Emeralds. Now that protection has extended to this dimension. My only purpose is to fight for those who can't. What others do to me is irrelevant."_

 _Silver was caught off-guard by the cold response. He knew Blaze was not keen on showing her emotions, but what she just said suggested she did not have any._

 _"_ _I…I don't know what to say…Blaze. I never knew the people around you were nothing to you but objects to be saved and preserved only because you have an insane obligation you have always placed on yourself."_

 _"_ _You're not nothing to me…you're the only one who's ever cared about me more than you really should. I didn't mean to come off so heartless. But I do have a responsibility, and that burden has often and repeatedly desensitized me to the good I do and who I do it for…"_

 _"_ _I can't even imagine everything you must feel…you don't have much yet you give everything that's there out of the burden on your shoulders…I…it makes me sad for you…"_

 _"_ _Don't say anymore, Silver. I want to finish our fighting. That will make me happier…more than anything."_

 _Silver fought harder than he had ever done in training. He wanted Blaze to appreciate that at least and get her mind off all the stress in her mostly lonely life. Their kinetic powers subconsciously came into more use, and flames and psychic waves shot around the room everywhere. Sometimes, both of them got dangerously close to hurting each other._

 _Blaze was feeling exhilarated and struggled to keep up with Silver who was not holding back anymore. Jabs were dodged, energy was shot, and the two fighters only began to tire after hours of this intensity._

 _Finally, Blaze was caught off-guard by Silver's endurance. He had conserved more of his energy and shot blast after blast of concentrated psychic force at Blaze, his wall of it shielding him from the remainder of her fires. Silver backed her up to the wall, readying his right hand with the other placed against the cold steel, trapping an exhausted Blaze in his apparent victory. What would have been a decisive blow against a real enemy ended their training as Blaze shot Silver a smile as she was still pinned to the wall by his winning gaze._

 _She wanted to say something about how he finally won a match, and he wanted to say something regarding that beautiful smile. He was happy she regained some joy for herself. But, instead, they said nothing out of lack of breath and awe of each other. Not backed up against the wall anymore, Blaze still inched closer to Silver even after just getting out of close encounters with him. Their noses nearly touching, the pair's heartrates were not going down at all. Silver thought to himself of his disbelief of what was happening._

 _Before he could reciprocate the small steps taken closer, Blaze committed and kissed him with great might and release. Shocked, Silver knew little of what he should do, so he put his arms romantically around her, hands on her back._

 _The kiss was over, and the two of them still said nothing this time out of lack of words and shock at each other's actions. Blaze, after feeling bliss in the arms of her friend, suddenly felt her guard completely down after all the hardships of her life and now this uncertain bond with her partner. She looked into the confused and golden-hued eyes of Silver the Hedgehog. What happened next no one wanted._

 _Blaze pushed Silver away with a wall of flame that hammered him into the cold steel on the other side of the room. Once he got up, there were still no words. Mouth agape in shock, Silver was physically stable. He could not bother to feel the singed furs of his body anyway as all his mind could focus on was the feeling of being betrayed. Did she fake wanting to kiss him to win? Or was she really heartless and angry at him with the rest? Very quickly the sudden hopes of being with the creature of his dreams were obliterated and destroyed by her fire. Silver was on the verge of tears and thought he lost a real friend at her trick. Silver's thoughts became obsessed with Blaze not caring for him._

 _Frozen still after moments of shock at herself and what she had done, Blaze's feelings could not be further from what Silver thought they were at the moment with her hands still in mid-air filled with the emotionally potent and damaging heat. She had screwed up and was now suffering along with Silver. She asked herself how this happened, but she had no good answer. Finally not afraid to show her feelings for Silver, she had pushed him away out of insecurity and hurt him in the process. She knew Silver would never forget this, and she would never forgive her stupidity. After what seemed like an eternity staring at each other in disbelief and hurt, Silver departed the room. Blaze was relieved; no one had ever seen her cry, and now Silver would not either…at least for now. The usually stoic cat broke down to her knees on the floor and mentally beat herself up for what happened._

 _Hours later, Silver was still in his room with the outlook of space in front of him. Despite what she had done, he still wanted Blaze more than anything amongst all the stars, he thought to himself. His tears had just begun to dry when the object of his thoughts and desire entered his room. He was in love still however he wondered at the audacity of Blaze to see him so soon._

 _"_ _Normally we go fix up the city after training…I think it'll be good for the both of us if we just do that," said Blaze with somewhat emotionless conviction._

 _"_ _Yeah," was all Silver could utter._

 _Crisis City was cleaned up in one sitting more than ever due to the silent exertion of all their built up anxiety and unresolved stress. Silver repaired the tallest skyscrapers while Blaze had little regard for her well-being as she soaked up rivers of magma in the streets. Once they were about to leave, a plume of volcanic fury shot up in front of the portal leading back home. Already spent, Blaze barely managed to harness it all and purge it through the dimension's skies, and she collapsed into the abyss off a building top after her last selfless act for the city that day. Amazed at her work and worried immensely for her, Silver used his psychic energy to catch and carry her home. She still had a stable pulse and breath._

 _Silver thought she was going to be fine, so he carried her in his arms now up to her room. Going in, he was surprised to see a journal spread on her bed with the words "I think I love him" written in big print at the top of a page, the beginning of an entry of Blaze's confessions for him. Had she left it there on purpose? Silver thought it be discourteous of him to read anymore, so he closed the diary and replaced the space with Blaze's sleeping body. He wanted to make sure she was okay. He stayed sitting at her bedside until she awoke hours later._

 _Groggy after an unintended slumber, Blaze woke up slowly with Silver's soft gaze and easy smile the first things she saw. Almost like nothing had happened between them was how Silver reacted with great relief to her activity. His smile grew wider as she began to speak._

 _"_ _Silver…how long was I out? Were you hurt by that spouting of lava?"_

 _"_ _No, I'm fine Blaze, probably only thanks to you. It's been a few hours since you collapsed exhausted. You needed and deserved a rest."_

 _"_ _Rest gets us nowhere, right? It's unfortunate that we all need it…"_

 _"_ _Maybe if you're you, you'd feel that pressured, but most others welcome a good rest. You should too. You're no good to anyone if you're killing yourself."_

 _"_ _You care so much about me…even after what I did to you today…I didn't want to hurt you, I swear!"_

 _Blaze began to sniffle and have tears well up inside her at her frustration with herself. Silver was touched by everything._

 _"_ _Of course. I know that now…I was just hurt and shocked because…well, I've always imagined kissing you, and in my mind, it never really played out that way."_

 _"_ _And it shouldn't have! If there's any animosity you have for me, I'd understand because I created it. I just didn't know how to handle showing you a vulnerable side to me."_

 _"_ _You're living, so it's understandable that you're not as tough deep down as you play yourself off to be. And never think I'd ever have animosity towards you Blaze…I…I want you to know that all I have is love for you…"_

 _"_ _You…you love me…still?" asked Blaze as a single tear strolled down her cheek._

 _Silver levitating the tear away from her face and letting it hover between them before dropping it to the floor announced, said, "I've always loved you, Blaze. I see the future, and I know I always will."_

 _Blaze was about to lose it. However irrational it was, she did not want him to know she felt just as strong about him. In reality, she had everything to gain in a confession and nothing to lose to a sympathetic admirer. She still got up from her bed and began to walk towards her door. But before she could escape, Silver stood in his tall stature and refused to let her pass him._

 _"_ _I can't let you push me away again."_

 _This statement of Silver's was not said aloud, but rather it came from his mind to hers through telepathy, the first time he had ever disregarded her privacy and guarded persona. Blaze lost all her restraint at this and collapsed into Silver's arms. Once he put her back on her feet, the tears now streaming down her face, she embraced him fully and kissed him once more. Her love was so intense and her control so gone that she was set ablaze. Silver, with his psychic power, shielded his body from the scorching embers of her form while also taming the flames within a force field that contained them both. Making love that night was the pinnacle of everything they had ever been through together. It was filled with all the breakouts of emotions, release of their physical lust, and most of all complete dependence on each other's care, compassion and deep love. They felt perfect and complete, and finally they were truly together._

 _Both of them barely fit, lying inside Blaze's bed. They began to talk after the monumental change of pace in their day._

 _"_ _So…" said Silver, "you love me more than anything, more than you ever thought you could love someone?"_

 _"_ _Those are the exact words…Silver! Who gives you the right to read my thoughts now?"_

 _"_ _Sorry, Blaze. It's just that I confessed how much I loved you, but you never said the same for yourself…at least verbally. I was starting to get worried."_

 _"_ _Well, now you never have to wonder because I love you more than anything, more than I would ever consider loving myself even."_

 _"_ _That makes me so happy, Blaze…how long have you felt this way? I've always dreamed of being with you, but I always felt like you saw me as just a friend or a little brother…"_

 _"_ _To be honest, it's taken until now for me to acknowledge any feeling of love fully. In truth, to me you were always my everything: best friend, greatest supporter, and object of all my spare thoughts. But if the way I truly felt about you crept inside my mind, I pushed it stupidly away like I did you today."_

 _"_ _It pains me to hear you felt like you had to do that, Blaze. But why? If you felt so strongly, why did you never say so?"_

 _"_ _Why didn't you?"_

 _"_ _Because I felt like I was on the wrong end of unrequited love. I never believed you'd want to be with me, but I always naively hoped. Did you feel that same way?"_

 _"_ _No…I could always tell how you felt about me. And I was always touched by it…the fact that you admired and cared for me so much was great to be the recipient of, especially since I always thought you were so much stronger, kinder and heroic than I."_

 _"_ _Oh, wow…Blaze…I…don't know what to say to that. Still, the question remains why you never told me all of this."_

 _"_ _I can't tell you…Silver, why can't we just be together now and forget about the past?"_

 _At this, Silver rolled over and propped himself up right above her. Blaze was a little shaken by this sudden move, and Silver explained while looking into her eyes, "Please, if you can't tell me aloud, just let me inside your mind, so I can know! You know I'd never think of you in a different light no matter what you thought or felt. I know you're my soulmate now Blaze, and I want our minds, from now on, to always be connected as one. I'll never judge you, only listen and understand."_

 _"_ _And comfort? Can you add that to the list, Silver?"_

 _"_ _I promise I'll always be here to comfort you. You'll be my top priority forever. Just let me in completely, won't you?"_

 _She did, and Silver was always welcome in the mind of his lover from then on. He learned that night that she had considered herself before of never deserving love. Silver made it his mission to change that state of mind, and Blaze immediately could not deny how right it felt to be with him. She even felt deserving of his love because Silver never made a mistake in how he treated her. In Blaze's mind, he was perfect. Of course, Silver knew how she felt, and he often wished she had his same power, so she could read the exact same innermost thought of his thinking her the only flawless thing in his entire life._

 _Weeks passed in the fall of the Year of Absolution, and Silver and Blaze visited Crisis City for its final purging. The last objective was the capital tower as he held it steady while Blaze made her way through the interior clearing away the final flames. After it was all done, Silver flew up to meet his love at the top of the tower. Nothing was said for a little while. Now they relished in that sort of silence. They always looked deep into the other's eyes, seeing the future in them. Silver was the first one to break the silence this time._

 _"_ _To celebrate our achievement Blaze, I have something to give you."_

 _"_ _Oh, Silver, that's not fair! I hadn't even thought of that!"_

 _"_ _Don't yell at me yet, not until you see what it is."_

 _Suddenly, Blaze saw a small box rise up incredibly quick from the street. Silver let it float nearer until it stopped in the palm of his strong hand. He got down on one knee._

 _Revealing the petite, silver ring with what looked like the golden emerald encrusted in it, Silver asked, "Blaze, will you continue to make me the happiest soul with feeling in the universe? Will you marry me, please?"_

 _Shocked but still prepared to handle the situation, Blaze took the route of humor: "I don't know…the old me would push you off this building and then set you on fire. But since you've made me a giant softie, yes, I absolutely will marry you, Silver!"_

 _Their happiness knew no bounds, and Silver took flight with Blaze in his arms above the resurrected city. They accomplished a miracle together and promised their eternal love. It was a big day for them to say the least. Before they left their opus, Blaze asserted they should rename the city Silver City. Not wanting to take the credit, even Silver had to admit he liked the sound of it. Everything was right between them._

 _However, there was still much that tested them as a couple before they were married at the onset of the New Year for the galaxy's calendar. Silver's family and many other Mobian residents moved into the new and promising Silver City after reconstruction finished in a dimension now safe, different yet a bit familiar. A week after their engagement, a suspicious force beckoned Silver and Blaze back to the Mobian plains where the portal to Crisis City was located. Upon going, Tails, who had come along to investigate the anomaly, discovered an evil foe that was trying to break through the gap between dimensions to reach Silver and Blaze, the ones who had unknowingly fixed the damage this incomprehensible being had done. Tails figured this due to the strange activity resonating within the Chaos Emerald they had brought for quick travel. Silver and Blaze decided they were going to return to see if they could remedy this anomaly in case, unchecked, it would disturb the fabric of space and time and possibly jeopardize the other dimension by closing the portal forever to Silver City._

 _Back again that night, the trio with Shadow in tow gathered all seven emeralds in the same spot on the vast plain of green. This opened another portal, this one leading to a vast waste of blurred blue space. Immediately, Silver felt it: the voice of Solaris. Its call was only penetrating the mind of Silver, beckoning him to come and finish the Time Eater who had retroactively dissolved back into its true form. He knew he did not, but Silver could not help but feeling like he had met this foe before. Silver told the others what he had to do._

 _"_ _I have to go in there alone. There's no ground for you two to stand on."_

 _Blaze tried to assert, "But we all have super forms, Silver! You don't know what you're going up against. At least let Shadow and I come with you to face whatever's in there."_

 _"_ _No, Blaze. This isn't just about me worrying about you. If my super form runs out, then at least I'll still be able to fly. Neither of you would be able to do that, so I'd feel best if I took this on myself."_

 _Blaze was still stubborn but now in her silence._

 _Shadow spoke up, "If you feel like you can take this by yourself, Silver, then we'll stay behind and back you up if necessary."_

 _"_ _Thanks to both of you," said Silver as he used the emeralds to transform into Super Silver. As he looked back at a worried Blaze, he departed with: "I'll be right back."_

 _In the gap, Silver began searching quickly for Solaris. On the other side, Shadow was gathering up the emeralds._

 _"_ _Thankfully he left these here," said Shadow. "If he gets himself lost and killed, we would have needed these."_

 _Blaze was offended by the cold remark from Shadow, without his soon to be born son, not yet completely softened by Tikal. He gave the impression that he did not care._

 _"_ _It would not have mattered because Silver's coming back, Shadow. Honestly, are you trying to fuel my fire? I think it'd be smart of you to shut your mouth."_

 _Meanwhile in the gap between dimensions, Silver had found Solaris. Psychic warfare was waged for the duration of Silver's super form until both were weakened enough to be taken out by a mortal. With a last ditch attack, Solaris began sucking up the life force of Silver the Hedgehog. Knowing he had not much time left, Silver used all of his strength to rip open Solaris from the inside. The colossal explosion destroyed the remnant of Solaris and left Silver gravely wounded. He slowly hovered to the entrance, the life completely sapped out of him when his body of dead weight fell through onto Mobius grass again._

 _Blaze's heart sank. She was never so afraid seeing Silver unmoving on the ground. Rushing over to him, she felt his dead lack of pulse and glossy eyes. Rapidly and frantically, she began at trying to resuscitate him. Minutes passed while Shadow was silent. After these minutes, Silver still lay lifeless. She struggled to keep from fainting into oblivion as she gripped Silver's chest to hold herself up. The tears flowed._

 _"_ _What a fool," whispered Shadow to himself. He had not meant Blaze to hear it._

 _"_ _WHAT?!" screamed Blaze as her tears evaporated into the flames. At the same time, she rose to her feet and rushed Shadow with a fury and force unmatched._

 _Shadow remained on the ground, wary of being seriously hurt by Blaze. He also felt pretty bad about his inappropriate remark._

 _"_ _He just saved us and who knows what else from going up against a terrible monster! And you are so bold to deface his name by calling him a 'fool!' How DARE you! Now he's gone FOREVER…Argh!"_

 _Shadow caught her arm in his grip before she could strike him with fire._

 _"_ _Blaze…I'm sorry, and I'm not even going to try to express how much. Let's just stay calm and get his body to bring back home…"_

 _Back at the Pillar, all the lights were turned off in the spacescraper for the mourning of Silver. The usually bright red walls and floors of the interior now looked a somber blue. Espio and Cream among others now viewed Silver's body on an altar slab. Blaze could not bear to look at what she lost anymore. It was decided to leave Silver there for twenty-four hours in respect and Nintendo tradition they all hoped not to implement ever again. The blue hues of the soft glow of magic flame without industrial lights would also become tragic tradition._

 _That night Blaze lay alone in her bed as she grieved and tormented herself to sleep with only memories of the love of her life. This torture slipped her into a deep sleep filled with nightmares of Silver shrouded in darkness slipping away into abysses into which his smiles always faded with the rest of him. In the dream world as well as the real, Blaze cried out his name. Seeing a light suddenly appear in her dream, she jolted up and awoke, staring now into the spectral face of none other than Silver._

 _"_ _What?! Silver, is that you? It can't be…"_

 _"_ _It is, Blaze! Apparently my otherworldly powers also transition into the supernatural. It only took me dying to figure that out."_

 _"_ _I…I don't understand. If you could do this, why didn't you show that you were somehow still with us on Mobius? I've just experienced the worst pain of my life for hours!"_

 _Her swats at him just passed right through his ghost form. Silver had to seriously restrain himself from laughing at that._

 _"_ _I couldn't figure out how to harness this power, or way of travel rather, at first. I came to you as fast as I could, Blaze. I hope you're not mad at me."_

 _"_ _Mad?! Are you kidding me? I just got the greatest second chance to cherish you, and even though you're just a ghost now, I can still be with you again. I love you, Silver."_

 _"_ _I love you too! But I'm pretty sure I can return to my old body again if you do me a favor. We just need the emeralds."_

 _"_ _Well, that should be easy! We have them all, so what do you think we should do?"_

 _"_ _Hmmm, I just recommend you turning into Super Blaze and touching my corpse while I jump back in."_

 _"_ _Okay…sounds good. And my super form has been dubbed by yours truly Burning Blaze. You have to call it that."_

 _"_ _I'll try to keep that in mind, Burning Hot Blaze."_

 _"_ _Not quite, but you might get it someday haha."_

 _The resurrection of Silver was successful much to the joy and celebration of everyone. All were relieved, and what Sonic saw would be the inspiration for him to save anyone who he would have the chance of saving in the future. These forest animals had access to godlike powers._

 _In Silver City, Silver's mother, aunt and two cousins lived in an apartment complex in comfort thanks to the efforts of the heroes to restore the now bustling metropolis. What followed the majority who were peace-loving creatures into the dimension's capital were Mobian terrorists disguised as immigrants searching for an adventurous life like most else. They brought with them chemical warfare as well as plots for attacks more grand. They were the leftovers of the Dark Egg Legion. Led by previous foot soldiers without noteworthy distinction, the group sought sociopolitical propaganda in the form of innocents' deaths. They viewed the hypocrisy of natural creatures using technology at their own leisure instead of welcoming and becoming one with it physically through cybernetic enhancements as blasphemous to the old religion of the Mobian technological supremacists. Dark Egg Legion wanted to prove their point of assimilation for all, even after they had mostly disbanded. These few animals left started off fresh with new identities by smoking out homes in Silver City through the sewers. Victims who inhaled the poison never made it, and Silver's entire family fell this way._

 _When Silver heard of the brutal and cowardly attack, he was distraught and wanted something he had never saw himself wanting in his life: revenge. Although he had started on his own at a very young age, he loved his mother dearly. She and the rest of his family were not going to be forgotten, and Silver and Blaze went to Silver City in hopes of ousting the gang for good. A few days' stay there gave them the opportunities to attend a funeral and incarcerate many of the lower-level terrorists._

 _One day saw the interdimensional summit of representatives to address the acknowledgment of this new dimension left by the Time Eater. Leaders' ambassadors from the Chaos and Sol dimensions and even Anti-Mobius convened in the capital tower of Silver City, meeting to establish a governance over this new recognized dimension. They also talked over banquet about the exploration of this new type of land._

 _The portal that hung above Silver City hung ominously in the sunset sky. This night was when an Egg Fleet carrier piloted by suicide Legion pilots passed through that portal and crashed into the capital tower, engulfing it in flames and killing the representative council. The main city was evacuated to the plains and the port all the while Silver and Blaze slept through the chaos. Silver had gone to bed out of his sulking grief and Blaze joining him to comfort, and when they awoke they were slammed into reality, obligated to help with the evacuation. After Silver learned of what caused the attack, huge guilt rooted deep within him; he knew he could have stopped the airship with his power if he would have been awake._

 _Blaze was feeling especially guilty herself. Even after being banished, she still felt a responsibility towards her people, a collection of species she had just let down again by letting the murders of some of their highest respected governing members take place. Revenge as an ideal was beginning to seem fitting for Blaze now too._

 _Finishing the last of the citizen security measures while the tower crumbled to its rubble, Blaze and Silver went away where they could be alone to assess what happened. This devolved into emotional behavior from the both of them._

 _"_ _Well, I am just not worthy of hailing from the Sol Dimension. I let down my people again, Silver. Why can't I be more, so I can protect them all?"_

 _"_ _Well, my power is more, and look what I let happen to so many innocent lives. So many slaughtered because my worthless mind can't handle being awake in a world where I already let my family be murdered."_

 _"_ _Silver…I…I shouldn't be complaining about how I feel ashamed…oh…"_

 _Blaze had never seen Silver break down into tears like this before. Sure, he may have shed one or two at the funeral, but holding his emotions in had caught up to him in a powerful way. She leaned down towards him, who was kneeling on the grass, and offered her hand to pick him up. Silver took it but held it only and did not use it to return to his feet. Now, it was her turn to comfort him._

 _"_ _What happened was terrible and was not your fault at all, Silver. You have to know that in order to move on and bring the rest of these scum to justice…don't forget how noble you are…had the attack happened in the middle of the night, we would've been asleep all the same. In the big picture, that's not what makes the difference. It was those who did evil, their decision to spread destruction out of hate. Why don't we go purge this city again, this time also avenging the people who lived in it?"_

 _"_ _Blaze…thanks…don't ever think you need me more than I need you…I don't know what I'd do without you…you're all I have anymore."_

 _Their campaign to find and oust the villains of Silver City took them through much reconnaissance work and eventually into the sewers of the metropolis. They did not find anything until they stumbled upon the secluded one-room hideout. Not trying to be particularly stealthy about it, they still were not spotted by the leadership and other remainders of the Dark Egg Legion. Outside evil's headquarters and in a dark place mentally, Silver made a dramatic and unprecedented decision._

 _The ceiling of that room began to shake, almost immediately after began to crack, and the whole of it was rubble on the floor spread overtop the dead bodies of the murderers and terrorists. The mission was done._

 _Unphased by Silver's actions, Blaze shot a fireball onto the mix for good measure. Apparently Silver's attack had left one straggler left buried alive, and the couple stood in witness of the terrified screams of the bandit, the leader Bogden, being burned alive._

 _"_ _We're no better than them, after all. Murderers. All of us."_

 _It took a lot of persuasion on Blaze's part as they walked out of the city towards the plains after the solemn victory to convince him of the difference between those they had just killed and themselves. Finding solace in each other's love, they enjoyed physical release where they would not set anything on fire. They then went home, but it would be a while before Silver came to terms with what he had done._

 _Silver now lived in Blaze's room, and she was happy to have him completely. However, it did take her being around him constantly to brighten his mood permanently from what happened in Silver City. One day though after she had thought he had gotten better, Silver asked to shower alone. Blaze's shower did not have warm water since she could heat it up herself, so she was a bit skeptical of Silver going in there by himself. After about an hour with the shower still running and Blaze listening the whole time, she went in to find Silver sitting in the bathtub, legs outstretched with feet pressed up against the freezing surface of the shower wall. He had a blank look on his face as he looked directly into the streams of steady water coming down to pelt his face and body._

 _"_ _Um…Silver, are you okay. Isn't the water really cold?"_

 _"_ _I'm gonna go out and do something, Blaze. I'll be back tonight," was the unrelated reply. He turned off the water and got ready and left._

 _Blaze was mystified by his odd behavior. Before now, she had never really wanted his power of mind reading. Still, it did not take long for her to figure out where he had gone._

 _At the crest of a hill where his mom's grave resided, Silver sat and stared. He cried silently as time ebbed away the few memories he had of her. Blaze came up behind him, sat and actually caught Silver by surprise. Her touch comforted him, and a sad Silver laid his head in her hands for a long while. When night fell, Silver made sure to mention that Blaze could leave anytime but that he wanted to stay for longer._

 _"_ _I'll stay as long as you need to, Silver. I remember when you said you needed me. I wish I wasn't all you had in the physical world anymore, and I may not be enough, but either way I'm here for you. My love for you keeps me strong, so it's my duty to help you through this. As long as I ever have anything to say about it, you'll never be alone."_

 _Silver let her know of his deepest appreciation for her "unwavering and unparalleled compassion." The two of them spent the rest of the night through keeping vigil at his mom's grave. In the morning, Silver, after the long visit, finally felt ready to leave his mother behind. He woke up Blaze who had eventually fallen asleep in his lap. The lovers returned home, and things between them cemented themselves in complete love, trust and honesty while the challenges they faced became less personal for a while in the future._

 _The wedding was a joyous way to ring in the New Year. It saw a dapper Silver and an enchanting Blaze pledge eternal love to each other. It was a passionate night for them as were all nights. They still continued to live, eat, sleep, fight and train together. They truly never got tired of each other._

 _One day found Blaze purring incessantly as Silver stroked her lavender fur. She was enjoying it until she saw Silver giggling to himself._

 _"_ _You think it's funny that you just found my sweet spot after months of being together? I'm a cat! Seriously, what do you expect?"_

 _"_ _I don't know. I guess I just assumed you never purred. I guess I also must have been doing this all wrong until now too! Will it make you feel better if I try purring too? Maybe I can give it a go…"_

 _Blaze laughed aloud as Silver failed very much so at purring. Of course, she expected the barrage of other normal cat noises that followed._

 _"_ _In some different way all the time, you just never let up, Silver. At least you make me laugh though."_

 _This was the day of the birth of Majora's Perfect Chaos, and the alarm that sounded in this couple's room sounded throughout the entire Pillar to bring together the Nintendo heroes for a monumental rescue mission with a secondary objective to avert galaxy-wide apocalypse._

Blaze and Silver worked well together on all fronts, and wiping out hordes of enemies was one of their strongest, collaborative ventures. Scores of pirates were also no match for the Heroes of the Emblem, new friends Prince Marth and Radiant Hero of Legend Ike who Nintendo had just met months ago due to the workings of Sonic's time-altering paradox. Falco and Katt had their usual banter in the air while taking on all they could handle.

"Are you sure you've got everything taken care of, over there, Katt?" said a cocky Lombardi who was making quick work of the dropships in his sector within boundaries he had decided.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Falco! You seem to be bored…maybe we should switch flight paths. I swear the majority of these damn ships are over where I'm at! Why don't you come help out?"

"Sure, only if you can't handle it," said Falco with a smirk back.

"Man, I married such a jerk…let's work together before I start aiming at you…"

"All right, I'm coming over…just don't shoot me. You're a good shot."

"Okay, now you're just sending mixed signals. I thought you said I wasn't doing the greatest over here."

"Are you kidding? You're a masterful pilot and tactician! You just need to learn how to work faster as well as still be deliberate."

"So, for once, you're actually providing some constructive criticism?! That's unlike you, Falco. Why don't you come over here and speed me up a bit?"

"Sure thing, babe. Together, we're unstoppable! Believe it or not, I'm trying to be a nicer guy in my old age."

"I can tell, gramps. You used to be an edgy, cocky bastard. I don't think I'm going to miss that old you though hahaha!"

"NICE! Three bogies in one shot, Katt! Maybe you should also invest in a multi-lock like I have. Maybe then you could pose me a challenge…"

"And now we're back to Falco the asshole…I'm gonna take out more of these scum already right now. Just watch this!"

Competitors and lovers waged war on the space pirates who were no match for the fierce skill of the pilots in the skies. Katt shot through lines of enemies with her plasma, and Falco danced around the marauders leaving them in their own debris.

On the surface, Marth and Ike fought against Kihunters that swarmed the air around them. The aliens tried in vain to dodge the wrath of Aether and dolphin slashes from the legendary blade of Falchion. Samus joined the men in her offensive against an Elite Pirate Commander, his wrist bayonet no match for the Varia armor and plasma beam of the mercenary. Through the battle, the Galactic Federation helped the Nintendo heroes with their valiant efforts, and Samus kept finding herself in proximity and conversation with her friend, Anthony Higgs.

"Hey, Princess! How're you doing? How've you been? It's been too long since we've found each other in a situation like this!" said Higgs as his charged plasma gun blew off in spurts of highly concentrated and highly lethal energy. It always took a while to charge up, so Anthony treated shooting the breeze like it was part of his job.

"Princess…and I'm quite a dainty one at that, aren't I?" said Samus gruffly as she dodged out of the way of a kamikaze explosion courtesy of an Advanced Aerotrooper. "I'm doing fine actually; I have plenty of friends on my side now. And I think you know why I haven't seen you in such a long time."

"Being on the run is no reason not to write," said Anthony jokingly.

Jokes flew right over Samus though; she could not focus on shooting Anthony's lame comments down and fight at her best at the same time. Nonetheless, she enjoyed his company and the aid of the rest of this Galactic Federation platoon.

As the fight continued to wage, this group of Nintendo heroes on the Norion ground gathered together in a tight circle facing their enemies at all angles. Ike's garnet star was resonating with energy more than before, and Silver could feel the emerald's presence as well as unseen enemies' thoughts. He just could not see them…but then under the weight of battle, the ground collapsed beneath them all, and the group, save Falco and Katt in the air, plummeted into the underground catacombs of Norion crust.

With the Falchion in hand, Marth cut into the crystals to slow his sliding descent as Samus did a screw attack into the soil below. Ike tumbled without grace into the rocks earning himself some bruises while Silver caught himself, Blaze and Anthony with his psychic power of levitation. Before them all was the purple chaos emerald…and a beast most of them had never seen before…an Omega Pirate ready to defend his kin's new cache from the hated heroes.

"Sorry the drop-offs took so long, Fox. I know I'm a little behind schedule," said Meta Knight as he and his Halberd soared into the Macbeth atmosphere.

"Don't sweat anything. We're glad for your help. Without your ship, this mission would have been impossible to pull off."

"And I'm glad TO help of course. Now, I can finally get my hands dirty…and my blade even messier. After all that docking, I'm itching for combat like crazy…"

"I know the feeling. Well, get ready for your chance now: Andross's remnants, I swear, will never disappear."

"His followers worshipped him like a religion, Fox," chimed in Wolf. "And even if these brigands aren't believers in the doctrine of Emperor Andross, they could still be fighting due to a little problem I had run into."

"Brainwashing, of course. I had never thought of that…" replied Krystal.

"I know. When he told me when we were forming our strike team, I almost shied away from joining in. I can't think about shooting these apes down if they're actually mental hostages like Wolf was…" Lucy said quite worried.

Fox helped reassure, if it could be considered that, "I know that the enemies we may be about to fight could be false, but if we don't fight through them to find this chaos emerald, the Majora monster will kill millions more innocent lives than we will take today. Okay? I never thought of us as heroes but rather mercenaries for the greater good; we have to do whatever it takes to preserve what we can in this universe."

"Huh, well said, Fox, but…" Wolf started, "It's odd: Falco isn't here to spout of some smartass and sarcastic comment, heheh. He never lets anything sink in with a nice bit of silence."

"Well…fuck, Wolf," replied Fox half-jokingly and half-peeved, "Congratulations on taking his place and ruining that. I put some serious thought into these motivational speeches here…"

"I'm glad to help maintain the illusion of constancy in this crazy universe for you, pup!" said Wolf smartly but with less of an accent than Falco would have.

"Thanks…and I'm 38 years old; I'd say I'm at least full-grown at this point."

The few laughs that this remark garnered from each of the pilots in the Star Fox team served as the comic buffer they all needed for the immensity of their mission that was about to fall swiftly upon them. Captain Falcon and Tails, who had gone ahead in the land mech of his blue Tornado, returned from the industrial sector of the planet with news that the Venomian units were on their way. The battle of Majora's Macbeth was to commence.

While the heroes became busy with the hordes of soaring fighters, an old enemy steadily chugged along the planet's surface. Dimitri prepared to confront Star Fox and would unknowingly complicate the union of the white emerald and crystal star.

Majora's Perfect Chaos laid waste to the continent Shamar of Mobius. Learning the ability to warp through space-time from the chaos emeralds, now realizing the last amount of potential of the stolen gems' energy, the beast with the boy traveled back in time to the Caves of the Past right before the PSI heroes had gone back years and then more years ago. The future Bianco Hills a couple months from now was terrorized but not obliterated in the frenzy of the mad incarnation that became wilder, losing its own mind but never losing hold of Adam's, and leaped sporadically from gaps in time to settings never before touched by evil.

More casualties arose from places throughout the galaxy. The purple beam of melting energy that pulsated from Adam's still growing abdomen wiped out creatures from peaceful, unsuspecting settlements: Ikana Canyon with the already dead living within the house of the original Majora hex, Toad Town with its suburbs of horrified and putridly slain fungi, the planet Silence with its strange, senseless aliens whose screams could not be heard, a castle of dark reapers too petrified to act, the jungles with their natives on Neo Star, and an unlucky military base on planet Katina. Nothing stood able or brave enough to stand up or think fast enough in Majora's rampaging wake.

The snarling Army Dillo was intending to make a wreck out of this smaller DK Island, but he first had to steamroll over eight Kongs, two hedgehogs and some kind of psychic catlike creature first. The ground rumbled beneath the heroes, knocking them down to their knees or feet except for Mewtwo who kept light on his slender paws as always and then psychically flipped the armadillo over on its side.

Army had enough sense and strength to maintain an upright position though, and he continued his rampage by shooting fireballs around the icy arena, melting crystals and singeing some fur.

Amy had had enough now as she readied her mighty hammer and whacked the steal coating of the animal hard. A nasty shock reverberated throughout her body though; there was no penetrating Army's armor without a more powerful move like Mewtwo's psystrike which he knew could not be done in such an enclosed space. It would put everyone else in danger.

The extended Kong family was a mess in trying to counteract Army's two main advances of rolling and shooting, and the gaggle of monkeys were representative of the disorganized fight the heroes were putting up. They all realized this soon enough however, and with the help of Mewtwo's telepathy, they mentally congregated to create a solid plan of attack.

Candy, Cranky and Kiddie were not of much use in a physical battle with the four-legged steel machine, so they posed a distraction. Cranky jabbed the whippersnapper with his cane all over as he moved quite spry for an old ape. Candy apparently turned out to be so attractive that this species of reptile was very interested in the curvy ape. Army was about to wise up to the act when she started to remove her shirt which kept the creature's googly eyes on her while an able-bodied yet inexperienced Kiddie Kong shook its steel shell back and forth, rocking it unsteady.

The other Kongs saw their chance: Lanky, Funky, Chunky and Diddy all aimed their fruity or nutty ammo reticles into the gaping slots where the fireballs where coming from. Peanuts, coconuts, grapes and pineapples gummed up the works well enough that Army was stripped of his projectile capabilities. Still being rocked dizzy by the one and a half ton Kiddie Kong, DK prepared his massive hands for some friction burn as he slammed the coarse ground with his flat palms. The animalistic force shook the caverns more than Army Dillo had done, and before the enemy could do anything about it, he was upside down, sitting on his metal carcass and soon-to-be grave with his soft underbelly a large, exposed weak point facing up to the ceiling.

A hedgehog couple provided the finishing blow with no hesitation as Sonic rolled up into a spin dash and allowed himself to be shot by Amy's swing of her Piko Hammer. He spun through the crystals, bounded up into the air as only a blue blur and came back down hard and at several revolutions of his spiky, round shape per second to drill Army Dillo's soft weak point to death.

After all the commotion of victory and defeat had settled, their longtime island foe vanquished for good, Sonic was the first to walk up to the cyan emerald and notice the weird effects it gave off when seemingly reacting to the diamond star in his left hand. The mostly lifeless jewel still had a slight cyan color deep inside, but there were intricacies apparent, assumed different properties by Sonic, that stuck the hedgehog as odd. Suitably, the others had no clue what to make of the cool vapor it was giving off and the electric-like, erratic glow it gave off as the two relics got closer together. Sonic went to touch it but realized to his shock that, despite the cool aura around it, the emerald was exceedingly hot to the touch.

"What do you think is wrong with it?" asked Amy.

"Uh, I don't know if anything is wrong with it, Amy. I've just never seen anything like this before. It's too hot to pick up."

"It has been through hardships that were forced upon it. The Majora creature, such a different evil, was never supposed to interfere with those emeralds. Whatever is happening to it, I am sure that it may work itself out in due time," chimed in Mewtwo. "I will carry the gems with my mind for now."

And Mewtwo did so, but when the cyan emerald and diamond star accidentally touched for the first time, a vision appeared before the group. They were all too distracted by this to find at first that the mutual power of the diamond star had given color and life back to the cyan emerald. One of seven had been restored.

Sonic, Amy and Mewtwo looked confusedly at the blurry image of a yellow temple shrouded by thick jungle. They had no idea what they were looking at, but the entire Kong family recognized it as the Golden Temple from their newest home.

"That's where uncle DK and I went after defeating that Tiki head monster we were telling you about days ago," explained Diddy.

The rest of the group understood that much, but for now, they failed to understand the reasoning the newly revived union of crystal star and chaos emerald had for showing them this sacred spot. Sonic's chaos control ability had improved in the years past upon the onset of his adulthood (he had been mindful to practice every now and again), but instead of trying to planet-hop for now, the gang decided to move to the more tropical coast of the island and wait for their pickup there. Mewtwo's telepathic call could at least be sensed by the others on Trinity; their friends were glad to hear of their first team victory of many for the day.

"Blwarrgh!"

Knuckles did not appreciate his old nemesis returning to haunt him again. The taunting of King Boom Boo followed the apparition into the wall of the sewers as he held the green emerald inside his body. The gang needed to find a way to oust the phantom from hiding if they wanted to reach their goal.

"What is that thing, Knux?" asked Rouge.

"Really? I'm surprised you never had the pleasure of meeting that thing in the Death Chamber. That's where I met and beat it. It's annoying to say the least…"

Lucario had closed his eyes and began to feel the presence of spirits around him. King Boom's energy signature was particularly strong and sensitive to the Pokémon's abilities, and upon touching the stone, he felt just how close the beast was.

"It's in here," said Lucario simply, gruffly and telepathically.

Vivian proceeded to merge into the spot Lucario touched to find the ghost and pull him back out. It took a few moments of searching on her behalf to bring it out, and it screamed and yelped trying to instill fear in the others when it was caught.

GUN hesitated none in attacking as the soldiers' spread of bullets did no harm to the boss, causing major annoyance at best to it as well as Knuckles and the rest who had known better not to attack so directly.

"What are you guys doing?!" Rouge shouted. "It's a ghost. What do you expect that to do? Call your men off, sir."

"Sorry," replied the past president. "Maybe we can best help out if we create a perimeter and place this sewer on lockdown."

"Thank you, sir. We'll take care of it from here! This won't take long."

While the GUN soldiers dispersed and checked for any signs of the ghost, the remaining six gathered to create a plan.

"As far as I see it, we can either dig it out or blow it out," pondered Snake.

"And then once he's out, we attack it right?" asked Hammer.

"Not exactly," answered Knuckles. "We need to shine a light on it to weaken it somehow, but this far underground, I'm afraid we have none of that."

"My aura might work, Knuckles. A pure concentration of my energy may be enough to weaken it for us to defeat it," said Lucario.

"Unconventional. I like it," chimed in Rouge.

"I had never thought of something like that," mused Knuckles. "Let's try this!"

"I'll go in and find him first, so we can go from there," volunteered Vivian.

Vivian was successful again in finding King Boom Boo deep within the mortar and cement of the sewer catacombs, but this time she treaded silently as she saw the ghost tired out and waiting in one place past the heroes' vision. She appeared again out of the wall to tell her friends of the monster's location, and they double checked for the emerald's wavelength by touching the emerald star up against the point where King Boom Boo was underneath.

Snake then prepared an encasement of C4 and planted it on the sewer wall. The resulting explosion knocked the king out of his hiding place so that Lucario had his change to enlighten the ghost with his Aura beam. The tactic worked as the ghost screamed in pain and cowered in fear against the bright blue and righteous flame. King Boom Boo shrunk down to their size now with the emerald still stuck inside him.

Hammer saw his chance to possibly help out, so he let loose one of his trusty hammers into the ectoplasmic body of their foe. He was quite shocked to see the unexpected result of his hammer replacing the spot inside the ghost where the emerald had been. Upon plunging into the boss, the emerald had popped out in its ethereal glow. Knuckles and Rouge still wanted to finish off their opponent though and assaulted the boss with fists and feet. The swift punches and kicks from the hunters was enough to subdue King Boom Boo once more. Being a ghost, he of course did not die; it retreated into the depths of the planet as its essence grew thin and weak.

This emerald too had the same trifecta of properties the one Sonic had picked up back in the high altitudes of Donkey Kong's island. It gave off cold, was hot to the touch and filled with an unstable, suppressed energy. Knuckles looked at it perplexed, but after Lucario brought the emerald star to it, the positive energy was reawakened, and their mission was complete. Their vision: back home for Knux. They saw Angel Island, and they wondered what it could mean. The GUN agents having done their duty as well approached the group and apologized for infringing on whatever importance their patrol was sent out to disturb.

"It's quite all right, Mr. President," said Rouge.

"Where do you go next?" he asked.

"Wherever that place is, we'll wait to be picked up first. Let's go back to the surface."

The desert of the Gerudo was in chaos. Stallord tore apart the encampments of the desert marauders as the heroes struggled to find ways to stall the beast. Shadow felt the presence of the gold emerald close by, maybe underneath the sands of this place, and if they could obtain it, the group could possibly forgo fighting this entire boss.

Tikal tried to look for the gem with gold star in hand as a couple of the legendary heroes protected her from any attacks. Stallord was summoning leagues of the undead to protect his spinal column and attack for him. They stood no chance though as the Links took them out with a flurry of spin attacks every time they respawned, reanimated by Stallord's dark magic. Kirby with his awesome gut was able to suck in dozens of the skeletons at a time. More and more of the fossil's pawns floated in the emptiness that was the parallel dimension connected to Kirby's maw and stomach. Once Kirby had too much of the dry, dusty taste of bones on his tongue, he spit a horde of them back out at Stallord that stunned the great beast.

The Resistance also supplied powerful blows to the skeletal monster. Auru and Shad aimed at the skull with their bazooka and invented explosives. Ashei took on swarms of the undead herself, and Rusl, being the natural with animals as he was, took reign of Plessie. Controlling the loyal plesiosaur was easy compared to taming a Golden Cucco, and the duo rode their way up the sands of the Arbiter's Grounds that were now covered in a slope of the stuff.

Projectiles rang heavy on Stallord's weak spot with Shadow's chaos spear and Links' arrows staying true until they penetrated their target. All Links, even the Hero of Winds, were mainly silent in the duties and accomplishments of the battle that day, and the solemnity from grieving parents Shadow and Tikal singled out the retrieval mission of this third emerald as the one where its heroes did not enjoy a little witty banter through all the action.

Kirby's and Yoshi's mouths were too full to talk either as bundles of enemies, and some encased in eggs, flew into the face of Stallord's frustrated mug. All the distractions gave Tikal the chance to find the gold emerald in its peculiar state tossed amongst the sand. She picked it up of course, and the reaction between chaos emerald and crystal star happened before the foe guarding it was even defeated. Whereas Tikal did not have the heart to leave Hyrule in turmoil thanks to the fossil Stallord, Shadow let his concern for his son persuade him towards leaving the desert now. Only when Tikal spoke to him did Shadow realize his selfishness in irrational, grieving motives.

"You know The Resistance could not handle an enemy of that size on their own in this wasteland, Shadow," Tikal said. "It would be wrong to leave them no matter how quickly we want to save our son and the lands Majora is destroying."

"Fine…you're right, but we need to take care of this quick. Who knows if our emerald is the last one being waited on by the team?"

As if in response to the parents' worries and heartfelt intentions, Rusl and Plessie slid down the sands of the ruins with incredible speed and used jumps in the dry air to increase velocity towards Stallord. The mass of the great dinosaur smashed into Stallord's spinal cord as it shattered into millions of bony fragments. The pain of the creature distracted it so much that it no longer held the mind power to control armies of undead soldiers.

The Chosen Hero from Skyloft's era ran over and slammed his Master Sword deep into the throbbing skull of his future incarnation's former fourth giant enemy slain. That title now also belonged to Link and all the other heroes of the land that day who had worked together to bring about the destruction of Stallord once more.

Its eyes no longer shining red, Stallord's magical life returned to him faded out again just as soon. With all the pent up rage inside of him, Shadow went over to the fossilized remains, cleared out the area and unleashed a chaos blast that vaporized the monster into particulate. The dust of the dead provided a nice dessert to the scores of skeletons Kirby had digested in the midday meal of his.

With the threat to Hyrule gone for good and the third emerald recovered on Nintendo's massive mission, all parties involved in the Gerudo fight were eager to move on to their next goals. The Resistance had repairs to do to the sacred grounds, and Shadow, Tikal and the rest saw their next destination in a vision of the Temple of Time as shown by the gold star and emerald. Fast yet earnest thanks were given all around, and hope and appreciation was spread throughout the large group. While most were going to wait for the Halberd's pickup, Shadow and Tikal decided to scope out the prayer site of the Hylian temple coexisting among times to see what the miracle relics were trying to tell them. They would not realize for a few hours more, and the couple returned to Gerudo, frustrated at the wait, ready to rebuild Gerudo to keep busy.

The Creepy Steeple stood among the trees of Twilight Forest. And right above it floated the Glitz Pit, the sensationalized fighting arena whose warriors had heeded a call to help the Nintendo heroes. Jolene just did not know her fighters were meant to help, but they soon realized what was going on through Goombella's rant and Doopliss's possession of the chaos emerald.

Young jester, trickster and fiend back to his old childish tricks, Doopliss challenged the heroes while knowing just how he was going to hurt them all. Goombella, having dealt with the menace before, was not amused by the ghost's maliciously playful words. Ludwig was impressed with his girlfriend's spunk.

"We DON'T have the time to mess with you, brat, and whatever antics you have cooked up in that delinquent mind of yours. You'll mess up so much more than us if you fight or pull tricks now, so just be a good little boy, and give us that emerald now!"

"NO! Goomba girl and friends seem a little too hasty to leave, and you've only just arrived to play! Why don't you stick around and have some fun first?!" replied Doopliss.

With that mean-spirited question and thereafter answering his own question for himself, Doopliss magically summoned barriers around his play room and copied the presences of all Nintendo heroes in attendance for the impromptu party. His eyes flashed red, and copies of Rawk Hawk and the other denizens of the planet appeared from thin air.

Panther and Leon managed to avoid the strategy, but the little beast in their way called upon his spectral pets: the Boo clan of Creepy Steeple. The gullible creatures formed the Atomic Boo which rushed the pilots and caused them to crash outside the stained glass window and into the forest below. Jolene and her fighters joined forces with the other two Nintendo couples to replace the other lovers.

Meanwhile, Panther and Leon shot at the playful and deadly beast in front of them with no avail. It was not shy at all, and the pair soon realized blasters were not doing the job.

"Ahh, if only we could just erase this monster from existence with the firepower of the living," said Leon menacingly against the collective spirits of the children. "What do we do know, Caroso?"

"It's always killing with you isn't it, you sick, cold-blooded beast? For your species' sake, I hope you're not representative of them. Why can't we just dodge this thing and play its little game, Leon? It's not like it can honestly take US on, argh," growled Panther with a sensual playfulness at his partner.

Leon was aroused and enlightened by his better half. They did not have to fight the big Boo after all, and they played its game of tag, making sure not to become "it" while the real fight became a war of attrition in the creepy tower.

Every time wolf Link lashed its fangs or Midna groped out for an attack with her muscular third hand, the damage done on Doopliss was somehow magically reciprocated tenfold against the attackers. The same was said for Goombella's headbonks and Ludwig's special brand of Koopa magic. They were going to need a distraction to defeat the kid or at least obtain the elusive jewel, but not even the Glitz Pit warriors were making any headway.

Rawk Hawk decided to be noble in his personal path to become a better bird. He wanted to take the brunt of Doopliss's attacks. To do that, he needed to make the ghost mad.

"Hey, trick or treater! Did your mom dress you in that sheet as a joke or did your parrot furnish it with bird droppings on your own time?!"

"Wh-what?" Doopliss had obviously become flustered and lowered his focus to attempt at coming up with a lame response.

"I-I dressed myself…who-who did your hair? Was it your clucking chicken mommy?"

The ghost boy had lost it at one remark, and he focused all of his clones to copy the moves and appearance of the Rawk. The other heroes chipped away at the young monster as Rawk Hawk righteously suffered every multiplied attack and brutal dose of pain.

Goombella was the first one to realize what the jacked bird was doing, but when she did acknowledge his sacrifice, the young goomba decided not to make that knowledge public. She was aware that Rawk was making a sacrifice that he wanted to make. Perhaps, he was trying to atone for cheating against The Great Gonzales all those years ago. It did not matter now though; the reasoning for the heroic actions at Creepy Steeple that day were just shadows of the lives the Rawk saved by shortening the kid ghost's foolish stalling.

Couples almost toyed around now, safe in the opening that Rawk had given them. He was hurting bad, but the others felt good in trying to end the battle quickly. Leon and Panther had returned from their scuffle with the Atomic Boo below the bigger fight, the playful creatures having realized the gravity of the situation and their lack of interest in the red chaos emerald.

"Rip that thing to shreds, Link!" yelled a feisty Midna who was a little too enthused with the position of wolf rider again. The blue-eyed beast did tear up Doopliss's clean, white sheet though, and the stupid kid finally stopped accosting the heroes, finally relinquishing his magical and terrible hold on the Rawk Hawk of the Glitz Pit. The other fighters who had come down from the skies to help gathered around their champion who needed some serious medical attention after bearing the brunt of all the attacks in the battle.

Only Ludwig wasted some time looking over the pathetic, mewling body of Doopliss. He was still mostly fine and only suffered some bruises, tears and scratches that had put him into submission. Doopliss played many mean tricks, but he turned out to really not be that tough.

Panther, Midna and Goombella rekindled the connection between the two miracle gems: ruby star and red emerald as Leon and Wolf Link awkwardly accepted thanks from Jolene on behalf of the denizens of the western Mushroom Kingdom who had been, for years, bullied by the likes of Doopliss. Ludwig was quick to say that they all owed Rawk Hawk a deep debt of gratitude and thanked them all for dropping in at just the right time.

Meanwhile, the vision created by the two jewels showed the heroes the shrine of the thousand-year door. Once the Halberd would return to make a pickup in the Twilight Forest, they would go there, their prayers and wishes already being focused there as the rest of the heroes fulfilled their parts of the mission across space.

King Dedede, the first who had bartered for the chaos emerald, was also the first to strike Porky's mech and protect his friends in doing so. His mighty hammer smashed into the reinforced cockpit. Normal glass would have shattered into the villain inside, but the resistance of the material and its refusal to break reverberated throughout Dedede's arms. They were left a little weaker from the heavy blow.

Mario and Luigi put some traditional Bros. moves to work as they leaped upon each other's caps to gain momentum. They hammered each other into the menace that was frantically trying to cause as much damage as possible to the city. Porky knew he was outmatched, so now he just wanted to leave his mark before an escape.

Blaziken, Sheik, Ness and Lucas were all not about to let that happen, and the odds were slim that Porky would get away with the emerald. In this time of stress, the sapphire star from Sheik's satchel was drawn almost magnetically toward the emerald. It caused a hitch in Porky's escape plan and provided a means for the heroes to assault the trouble-maker with a surge of psychic ice, fiery fists and Sheikah smoke. The heroine let loose needles that hit critical pressure points on the heavy machinery, and it went down momentarily. Porky's mech bore the assault of all seven of the heroes who were very much in their element now. Gone were all the political proceedings and arbitrary flair of Fourside's culture. All that remained was Porky's savage attack and Nintendo's answer to it.

"Stop it! Let me go! I swear I'll self-destruct with this emerald with me!" Porky yelled.

This made Dedede stop from delivering his jet-powered hammer into the kid villain. He was unaware of the emerald's indestructible nature, and so to help out his brethren, he made a quick deal with the brat to let him go if he relinquished the once blue emerald. None of the others in Fourside knew this deal would be the wrong decision for the heroes. There were no denizens of Mobius on this mission to tell Dedede that the deal would not pan out in their organization's favor. Ness and Lucas were wary of letting Porky go, but his mech was at least destroyed. The destruction had stopped in Fourside.

"I don't know if that was the best idea to let him go…" muttered Ness to the group.

Lucas shivered from the PSI ice energy still flowing through him and sensed there would be consequences for what they had just decided to do.

"Yeah, that was probably bad, harhar…" laughed Dedede nervously. "I only wanted to make sure that the chaos emerald was retrieved in the best condition unharmed. That monster we're all facing right now is more dangerous than that kid anyway. I mean, we all gave him quite a spanking, am I right?!"

Dedede's attempt to lighten the mood was much appreciated. The others were starting to form a very reformed opinion of the Dreamland king. Many had known him to be the villain or trouble-maker through old stories from the stars. Now, they were all relieved to be proven wrong or at least to be privy to Dedede's new leaf. Sheik was impressed the most and wanted to get to know the eccentric character more. Touched by his charity, selfishness and willingness to put himself in harm's way for others, Sheik spoke next.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say we couldn't have completed this mission without you. I'm certain of that, brave king."

"Aww, it was nothing too special," remarked the good-natured King Dedede.

The Mario Bros., still out of breath from their fun attacks, went over to grab and reunite the miracle gems. The sapphire star brought new life into the deep blue emerald, and the vision that appeared before this group of heroes was a little, quirky village that was not too far off.

It would be a quick walk over to Mr. Saturn's village for the successful heroes.

Silver and Blaze were the first to test the power of the Omega Pirate that awakened before them. The colossal Phazon-fueled enemy broke through Silver's psychic shield in its rage and charged into the heroes of the Emblem, mostly unflinchingly so against Blaze's fiery attacks. Samus had of course fought one of these before in the Phazon caverns of Tallon IV, but this monstrosity was much bigger, presumably powered by the pinnacle of Phazon research before the destruction of Phaaze had halted the space pirates' nefarious research.

No sooner had a screw attack from the likeness of the bounty hunter bounced off the goliath when Falco and Katt flew down to investigate the crash. Carefully aimed laser blasts knocked the creature back but did no physical damage as the heroes on the ground escaped out of the pit.

"That sucker sure is big," said Falco in his matter-of-fact tone of voice. "We could just get that emerald and get out of here, ya know. Leave that thing to work itself out."

"No!" announced Samus harshly via headset. "I've dealt with a monster like this before, alone. We can't on good conscience leave it here to cause destruction. We just need to think of something."

Katt wasted the majority of the space pirates on the ground while swords slashed through their fair share as well. "We've already eliminated a significant threat here. Our job was to find that gem as quick as possible, not kill every enemy in sight. Remember, we can't let a much bigger monster cause more destruction on worlds more inhabited than this one."

"You're right!" yelled Ike. "But we should at least try to take this thing down. Let's work together."

Silver addressed the whole team as Blaze talked with Samus aside. "Quickly, we should concentrate all our power on that thing's head. There's no excuse for not being able to take it out in minutes."

"We're with you, Samus," said Blaze to the worried bounty hunter. "This planet won't be ravaged anymore if we have something to say about."

"Damn straight!" boomed Anthony. "I'm fully charged and ready to blast that thing. It's slow and stupid, so fooling it should be no problem. It might be strong, but it's not smart enough to have allies. Just look!"

The Omega Pirate was trying to swipe at the ships of the Star Fox pilots, but it actually caught a few of the pirates' battleships instead. They were controlled by mercenaries of significantly less skill. Those came burning down as the Omega Pirate's massive talons and rancid Phazon-laden breath wiped out many of its genetically unaltered kind.

While most of the heroes got together for a plan, Marth sped along the vegetation at the Omega Pirate's feet and then leaped onto its body, finding momentary foothold after another to eventually inflict some pain at its neck. Then, with a scream, Marth was flung off the beast's shoulder and into the charred remains of aliens. His bargain was not about to pay off until it did after all, and the plan swung into motion before Marth could be crushed by his enemy.

Anthony's plasma pack shot into the abdomen of the Omega Pirate, and Blaze controlled Ike's blue flame around the beast to hold it steady. Marth shielded himself from the raging fires as Katt blasted the monster from above. Without hesitation, Falco launched a smart bomb from the air while Samus charged a barrage of super missiles at the pirate's vulnerable head. Perfectly timed, Silver encased the explosives just about ready to connect with the target inside a carefully prepared shield, containing the blast to a specific point and disintegrating the head of the Omega Pirate behemoth. For extra measure, Ike unleashed Great Aether into the gaping hole where the beast's head once was a moment before. It was split down the middle, and Aran rushed into it with speed booster, jumping at the right time to fully tear the weapon in half.

Other heroes who left the complete destruction of the Omega Pirate to their partners landed and retrieved the purple emerald finally. The siege on Norion was, for all intents and purposes, now over as the remaining space pirates found no reason to keep on fighting, especially when they had just witnessed the teamwork against one of their proudest scientific marvels. As they walked over to the gem with the garnet star in hand and color returned, Anthony flashed a smile at Samus who was too happy to reject friendly advances this time.

"Finally," said Silver. "Sonic, Shadow and the others will be glad to hear of this success. Gah!" The emerald's power began to fully return, reacting with its magical brother. A portal suddenly showed the way to a Chozo shrine on Elysia.

It was a good thing Samus was there to identify the place because they all felt an urge to go there with the crystal star they had. All the heroes were being drawn to these spiritual points in the galaxy, but they did not know why yet. When Meta Knight finally came to pick up the emerald, they were about to.

Dimitri, the Forever Train Engineer, always had an affinity for the machines, even before he became a conductor in league with Andross. Hauling weaponry and other cargo for that army was just a side project in his mind back in the Lylat Wars. Traveling the surface of a mostly unknown world via his favorite mode of transportation: that was what kept him going back in the day. The rails never led him astray, even when he developed an interest in fighting. That interest was demolished by Team Star Fox as his glorious train had run its course headfirst into a supply depot. Hell, he was lucky to barely get out alive back then. But now, on some whim, he wanted to get back at Star Fox and their friends, as fate was to have it that he just happened to hear of their landing from Andross's worshippers and that he was, by some sick or promising happenstance, right in the same region that had excited him and nearly killed him so many years ago in the thick of all-out war.

"Step on the gas," he grunted to himself as he charged into battle territory. He put a lot of money into new sets of rails that he could switch to instantly. He found himself being pulled in by a chance to battle with Star Fox once again.

Meta Knight's laser firepower from his Halberd got in a couple clean shots that wiped out a few dozen fighters each time before the Knight called it quits, electing to park his ship away from the battle seeing as its obliteration would fail the entire mission. The maneuver ended up distracting some of the enemy units towards that position, but Tails and the Captain were successful in the ship's defense.

"Great work, kid!" hollered the Captain. "I can see you never give up."

"Thanks," said an appreciated and enthusiastic young fox. "I've got someone to thank for that attitude." He was forced to remember his old friend Sonic and how he had shaped his life. He would never tell anybody, but he fought off enemies while thinking of his friend.

Free from his warship, Meta Knight now glided freely into Macbeth airspace and tore down several brainwashed monkeys from their perch in the sky. The Star Fox pilots were obviously impressed and could not suppress their excitement.

"You kick a lot of ass without having a ship there, Meta," mused Wolf. A silent nod was all the warrior gave time for. Fox was also equally surprised.

"Remind me to team up with you more often…" Fox said as he rolled out of the way to cause the collision of two enemy fighters. "…so I can see your expert work all the time."

Krystal commented on Meta's skill silently in his mind, and Meta actually blushed a little under the mask of his. Lucy, who struggled to get it out of her mind that she was shooting copies of her boyfriend down, was the only one too distracted to adorn Meta's ego with compliments.

A silence went quick among the group as they felt an ominous presence arise after the destruction of the brigand fleet. Fox and Krystal decided to land and investigate an abandoned warehouse. At the same time, Wolf's sharp ears heard a consistent chugging sound.

"Hey, guys? Do you hear that?"

The vulpines both turned around as the Wolfen nudged to the sky behind them all. The Forever Train came roaring in as Dimitri shouted. His lungs could not restrain his newfound thrill after so much time. His machine was much faster now but also more manageable. The bullet screeched to a halt upon the nearest track as the crazy engineer assessed the situation. He let go of his Forever Train Mech to damage the parked Arwings and cowardly spurred off again, hoping he would get them all to chase them.

"I never would have expected to see this ape again," muttered Fox as he jumped back into his Arwing alongside Krystal who just barely managed to dodge the nail attack from the unattached AI-controlled mech. The lovers' dogfight with the boss was intense. Dimitri got his wish though, and Wolf and Lucy flew off in pursuit, trying to figure out how to damage this thing. Tails reformed the Tornado back into a plane and joined the Blue Falcon, obviously restraining itself by keeping pace with the Forever Train.

Guns shot out from the speeding bullet now, so it was not going to be easy on the heroes' side of things trying to get shots in. Wolf and Lucy struggled to get a lock on to even take out the added turrets in the situation. Captain Falcon burst out of his vehicle after leaving it on autopilot. Upon landing on the roof of the train, he ran like the fastest human alive and punched out as many guns as he could.

Meta Knight was loving the rush of power he was getting. It was second nature to contribute to Fox and Krystal's offensive against the Forever Train Mech. He grappled onto its back upon soaring into the harsh winds of the upper atmosphere. His friends were startled by his ability to get up there alone and were even more so when the Knight of Galaxia took it down with him, sword lodged in its mechanical skull. They all flew back down to the surface to meet the wreckage.

"Spectacular job yet again!" yelled Fox. Krystal destroyed the wreckage with plasma blasts and got out of her Arwing to celebrate with the two guys.

"Oh, my rampage isn't done yet," was Meta Knight's only answer to his superior. He sped away with wind fully in his wings and a further bloodlust to satisfy. He had seen the Forever Train, and he had a weapon equipped to take it out. Leaving Meta to his heroic business, Fox and Krystal went into the building dripping with darkness.

The Captain was launched by gunfire onto Tails' wing. He was injured and by no means fine. A lesser man with less armor would have been killed. His part in the battle was over now, but he thanked Tails for the save nonetheless. Not being useful, the Captain thought to himself, was not something that was going to bring him down. At least the remote-controlled Falcon Flyer would be a distraction for Dimitri as it rushed alongside the speeding bullet train. It was to be that even Wolf and Lucy's attempts to blow up the train would be rendered useless. The Halberd had sped by and turned abruptly into view while looking straight into the eyes of Dimitri about a mile along the rail away. The distance was closed just a little bit before a fully charged laser tore a perfect chasm all along the Forever Train's cars. Dimitri was ejected from the seat, and he sat in the rubble of his dreams, ignoring how lucky he was to have survived again.

The rest of the teammates were shocked, but celebration slowly replaced that feeling. On the right side of the demolished train, Wolf and Lucy saw the despondent engineer who was frustrated in the foiling of his thrill, this time by seemingly even more unfair means. He kicked a chunk of burning metal as Meta landed simultaneously with the couple Wolfens.

Wolf was going to be the first to confront the saddened ape, but he instead responded with a blaster to the leg as Dimitri pulled out a pistol against him. Meta stepped over quickly, and Lucy was the only one to be sickened by what came next.

"You tried to kill my friend?" said the knight in a questioning tone as if he did not already know the answer. "And you wanted all of us to die, didn't you?"

Dimitri, already immobilized by Wolf's blaster, could barely get out a noise as he laid slumped over against his broken train before he was slashed swiftly in the chest by Meta's heavy blade. The monkey died instantly. Meta stood and stared at the diagonal wound across his helpless victim's chest. "Go," he said silently, his lust for fighting quenched. Lucy had let out a mostly inaudible whimper, still not accustomed to her husband's brutal sense of justice. Apparently, he was not the only one to have that sense.

While the rest of the team made their way back to the former battleground, Fox and Krystal happened upon something startling. It was a large vial, and it held the naked body of the original Andross. Or maybe it was a clone of sorts. Looking in at the green liquid surrounding his nemesis through, it did not matter for Fox. He was instantly traumatized by some sort of psychic force that was scratching his brain from the inside. Krystal tried to connect with the mind of whatever was really in the tube, but once she did, a self-destruct program was initiated. A minute on the clock was all they had to evacuate. They could not wonder now what exactly that was. It was Andross in form, sure, but did it really have the potential for anything in the future? Especially in this remote area of the system? After all, why would something like this be here?

Krystal thought these notions to herself later but now got her husband to his feet as they ran away from the warehouse. On the way out, they noticed the crystal star's resonating power. Krystal looked back once while Fox continued to cover his sensitive ears and keep the villain's influential voice out of his head. Krystal strained to see a pillar of light inside the emptiness. 5. The slanting stream of light outlined something on the floor. 4. It was the black outline of the final chaos emerald. 3. What were the chances? 2. It had to survive the explosion. 1. Krystal picked up Fox as they leaped from the building, leaving the inferno in their wake.

The silver emerald was safe after all. It had flown away and was caught by the Captain on Tails' wing. Mostly unscathed, Fox and Krystal looked back at the blast and the billowing smoke and fire that leapt from its source. Fox swore he saw the ghost of Andross fly out of the destruction. Krystal, judging by Fox's look of horror on his sweet face, believed him. But with more pressing matters to worry about, they both got up and brushed themselves off to greet their battle-worn friends.

The crystal star and silver emerald met with each other at last, and light was returned to the wish-granting gem. Prayers from the crystal star showed the way to the surface of the Lylat star. The six were to fly there immediately, somehow knowing the location would be important in the battle of gods to come. Meta Knight took the emerald and left the star with his friends. They were friends who he had trusted to see his power. He just hoped that he would still have them, and on a deeper level, after this fight. His Halberd set off into space as he visited old worlds and gathered the emeralds on Trinity.

After a long time spent gathering the most powerful heroes, Majora's Perfect Chaos had already savaged dozens of worlds and hundreds of millions of lives. Nothing in any of the heroes' histories of fighting evil had had such a tragic impact before, and without the uncontrollable lust of the secret mask of Termina and the kin of two immortal forest animals, the Nintendia galaxy would be at peace now. That not meant to be, Meta Knight and his Halberd's final stop was at the destroyed Station Square on Mobius where Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Tikal and Silver were called, as they now surrounded the mystical treasure map of the Mushroom Kingdom that now showed the new homes of the Crystal Stars. It was to be through these spiritual vantage points that the other heroes' prayers would combine through the miracle connection of the Crystal Stars to the newly powered wish-granting Chaos Emeralds to strengthen three fated hedgehogs. The group here did not know this exactly of course…but they felt it after a moment.

"So…why exactly did the rest of us spread out to the far corners the galaxy? I mean, I know why we came here, but still?" asked Sonic.

The hedgehogs and echidnas traveled to Mobius to bring relief to the most devastated area once the beast was defeated, but more importantly, to be poised on the closest planet to the center of the galaxy. Adam could chaos control at will and warp light years away, so launching from Mobius would be their best bet at beating Nintendo's favorite son.

"I talked with all of them, well, most of them. They said…" coughed Meta as he paused in his disbelief in the overwhelmingly spiritual ties he had seen expressed in his comrades, "that they felt tied to the places where the Crystal Stars were showing them to. These shrines of sorts were all recognized by at least one person in each group, and we all already knew that only you three could battle…that thing…your son, I mean…in space, so I let them go. And I'd also be lying to you all if I said I didn't feel strange either…I don't know how else to explain it…"

Knuckles began: "Well, now that we know the Chaos Emeralds are tied to much more than just our homeworld, Sonic, we can deduce that high points of religious energy are conduits for the wishes of the Chaos Emeralds. The partner gems, the Crystal Stars, channel energy from a purer form of wishes. Those are prayers. And here we have our foe's mother and father who wish more than anything to get their son back and try to right the wrongs Majora has wrought on the galaxy. This whole universe is probably connected by these fourteen gems…and all of us, even our ancestors and the very peoples we come from, we didn't know it until now."

"Yes…" muttered Shadow. "But now that we've figured all our damn cosmic connection with the gods or whatever you want to believe, can we just do this! Every word we speak, my son is being forced to kill more innocent people out there…he may not be completely like me, but I can only imagine how he's going to take that once we make him come back to us…"

"We can only do as much as we can…on all sides of this suffering…" said Tikal meekly, sharing in the parental grief that Shadow could not hold back anymore.

"Well, since we don't know exactly how to get started," said Silver, "let's have Tikal call upon the prayers of emeralds and stars while we try to super transform. Maybe with the help of all our friends, we'll be more powerful than ever. It could even be unlimited, and that'd guarantee us a victory! We'll be able to bring Adam back!" shouted Silver enthusiastically.

Instead, it was decided that Knuckles call upon the miracle gems. Besides, Tikal had not communicated with them in a millennium, and in her grieving state, she did not feel the best-suited for the job of messenger.

"Servers of chaos and prosperity…" Knuckles began as they surrounded the Chaos Emeralds with the echidna and map in the middle.

"We CAN do this!" yelled Sonic prematurely but in a kind tone of voice.

"…I ask of you to bring forth prayers and thought, wishes and dreams…"

"I know we can," affirmed Silver in his resolute, stoic manner.

"…and make them all one to preserve this universe and aid our heroes…"

"Right," said Shadow with as much calmness as he could muster.

"…for they are our protectors of peace and freedom. Now, give them power and let them wipe out the tyrannical darkness of our worlds, so they can bring home the light!"

With those words: a new challenge given to Knuckles from the emeralds and stars together, Super Sonic, Super Shadow and Super Silver all glistened their familiar golden glows and shot into the atmosphere and space together, in the formation of a triangle, now ready to omit Majora's Perfect Chaos from the universe and bring home Adam, who had been a perfect son. In the seven spiritual epicenters of Nintendia, the heroes were praying, wishing with all their power to save the land and their own. Meanwhile, Meta Knight had watched the whole spectacle with his shielded, worried eyes as they glanced over at Tikal. The warrior and the prophet stood close to each other, and Meta felt that his strength was still needed…in this different way…to help his friend. She knelt down and embraced the swordsman who tried not to cry…even though he had a mask.

In space amidst the stars, everything was calm and beautiful and for the three hedgehogs, even safe. They could not feel their energy draining as the energy of their family was an endless wellspring for their unlimited powers. Still, nothing was going to be accomplished if they could not find Adam and Majora, so they flew at incredible speeds to find the amalgam of power.

In the Golden Banana Temple of New DK Island, the Kong family gathered around the diamond star inside to send their well-intentioned thoughts even though most of them had not met Adam yet. They still burned with a desire to spare needless casualties and make the galaxy safe and predictable again. Diddy and Donkey Kong's thoughts moved past just wanting a world where they could vacation with others without worry; their extensive work with Sonic had inspired them, and they wanted more than anything for him to be all right through this. Amy held similar feelings, just incredibly stronger of course. Her love for Sonic but also heartfelt friendship with Shadow and Silver was being sent to the trio in space so far away. Mewtwo actually had his thoughts on Adam. He knew too well how it was like to be a creation of something ill-willed into this world, and he could not bear to think of the little, kind boy he had met days ago being killed due to the demonic designs of some ancient civilization. That had almost happened to him with a modern people. How evil must those of the undeveloped past had been?

Mewtwo's silent, telepathic call into the diamond rendered: "Adam, you innocent child, you have to be all right, not just for us so that we can see you again…but also for yourself…because you deserve a life that you want to live, one that's controlled by you and not what others or fate has planned for you. Please come back to us…"

Sonic, Shadow and Silver finally found Majora's Perfect Chaos in the far corner of the Lylat System near Sauria. Dinosaur Planet was the smallest in the system, and the gargantuan beast was pushing Adam to his limits by growing bigger than the entire planet it was about to decimate. The three hedgehogs dashed in to intercept, and Shadow was understandably the last of the trio to strike his son. It did not seem like the Majora part could feel pain at all; if it did, maybe the demon relished in it to become angrier. Maybe they were just hurting Shadow's son under the surface, wondered Sonic and Silver as the latter could read the god's thoughts.

The others were preoccupying Adam and Majora with head-on blows and asteroids flown out of the gravitational pull of Sauria, so Shadow circled around faster than lightning, cunning enough to deliver a super-powered chaos spear that was potent enough to send Majora's Perfect Chaos flying out of Lylat. With this blow, the hedgehogs lost sight again, but they continued to pursue in the direction the enraged monster was flown.

Rouge was filing her report with GUN while the others were making their prayers known at Angel Island floating in the sky. She was constantly thinking of her love Knuckles while she did it though. Rouge knew very well he had an important duty to carry out, much like she had a responsibility to inform the free worlds, regardless of how insignificant that obligation felt to her right now. After all, Knuckles was the catalyst for these miracle gems to work in the first place, and her best friend's son was in the middle of being tortured and forced to commit genocide across the entire galaxy.

On the floating island in the sky over Mobius, Hammer, Snake and Lucario looked into the emerald star with an air of melancholy. Even they were weighed down by the enormity of the task that stood against them and the hedgehogs. Vivian, with her hopeful eyes covered by her wavy hair, inched closer and rose up to meet the star head-on to give her prayers.

"Please, emeralds, return our heroes safely. And most of all, make sure that boy is okay too…he never did anything wrong…he doesn't deserve this. He needs to have a chance to be happy after all of this…" whispered Vivian, her heart burning forth as its righteous beating was heard by the heroes. Its wishes were endless energy upon which Sonic, Shadow and Silver could draw from.

Inertia was having its way with the gigantic demon form of the child as it took him through a hazy nebula where the Bottle Ship once was. The blast from his father's chaos spear inadvertently created another monster for the future as the purple, red, blue and green tattoos of Majora's Perfect Chaos absorbed a Desbrachian with its cocoon unraveling and its sharp scythes and teeth flailing upon its demise floating in space.

Before chaos control was activated on evil's part, Sonic and his friends kept up the assault by ramming into the beast with their mighty light energy. The pattern kept on repeating: Silver, Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Sonic and Shadow until the hulk warped away from the strikes and appeared behind Sonic to slap him away from the fray. The meaty demon boy hand pulsated with sickly ooze as the tip of a finger was bigger than Sonic's body. Adam was done growing for now, but his other surprises managed to keep the hedgehogs on their toes. The abdomen laser charged instantly now and shot waves of madness from the core of the creature without warning, consistently catching the fastest creatures alive off their guard. Silver tried to predict where the assaults would land; his mind would call to his golden comrades as they flew out of the way just in time. Shadow went charging into the origin point of the laser, hoping to knock the demon Majora out of his son permanently.

Hyrule's time was still a fluctuating mess to those with a foreign reality, so the Links stood in what was the Temple of Hylia, Sealed Temple, Temple of Time and future Sacred Grove all at once. They gathered around the pedestal of time as the timelines flashed around them. The gold star was the one constant they could focus on at least. Yoshi, Plessie, Kirby and the Resistance all joined in praying.

More expressive than his descendants, the first Chosen Hero spoke to the gold star with sincerity, sharing his courage with the heroes so far away. "The most important thing is to believe you can accomplish what seems impossible. If we all say that the wrongs of what happened here today will be remedied, if we want so deeply for Adam, an innocent child, to be okay, then we can make it happen with our power together."

The whitish purple laser erupted from the boy's pulsating gut just before the father was about to strike. Shadow deflected some of the energy away from him, but he still took a heavy blow in the skirmish. So next, Silver rolled Sonic into a spin dash and set him on a track of the stars into Adam, knocking into the mask's mouthpiece. The groan from the beast was encouraging as it stumbled into further attacks and tried to obliterate the trio with lasers that were much too far from the mark for beings faster than light.

All of a sudden, something unexpected happened as the enemy shrunk back down to twice the heroes' size with its build still extremely girthy and proportionately as musclebound. The cosmic beast grasped all the heroes in its massive hands and warped into another sector with the heroes uncertain of where they were going.

The Thousand-Year Door was still cracked from the invasion into the ancient lands ten years ago. Now Nintendo knew the Crystal Stars were more than just the key to that lair's entry. In fact, they had existed long before a millennium ago. Their involvement in the Shadow Queen's rise and destruction was just an example of their power.

Now Jolene and her entertainers of the Glitz Pit all stood around the door, gathered around the ruby star as the heroes who defeated Doopliss also spoke their prayers into the gem. Thoughts were also with Rawk Hawk who was being cared for in the Rogueport infirmary. Link was stretching back into his human form again while Midna hung off of his shoulder. Leon and Panther were also hanging off each other, thinking about the more innocent members of their new merry band as they called out, and they wished Adam and the other heroes would be okay. Goombella, who would usually be raptured with her surroundings in this historic place, could only think of Adam: the kid she had meant only once. He had been so kind and cheery. It made her think of Yoshi Jr. and the rest of her nostalgic time spent with old friends. They were the best friends. Ludwig was the newest member of those she held in high esteem.

The Koopaling was having a moment in the safety of his mind. Asking for forgiveness of the sins of himself, his siblings and his father, Ludwig wondered if praying for this boy was enough to save his soul from the gods who, he had not thought about this until now, obviously held dominion over these worlds, a dominion his family had disgraced to no end he believed now. Perhaps it was selfish to be thinking of such a thing at this time.

"I know it might not be much coming from me…" Ludwig began. "But I want the entirety of my new family to make it through all of this…safely."

Majora's Perfect Chaos threw the heroes outside of the warp and into the moon over Trinity that was just above the Mushroom Kingdom now in its rotation. Adam's massive heal crushed the hedgehogs into the moon, causing the nearby craters to implode with the dust of the surface. Shadow shocked his son with a chaos blast that blew away more of the cosmic rock. Sonic and Silver managed to get out of the hold and attacked on either sides as the beast grew again. But through it all, its wrath was suffering and pain was written on the grotesque face of Adam and Majora.

"Stop it!" Shadow yelled, talking to the creature who was holding his son captive.

The hedgehog with the red streaks in his golden mane struggled to reach out to the hidden spirit of his son beneath the madness of the terminal demon. The other two joined with Shadow to bombard the beast's pressure points with attacks at the highest velocities they had ever mustered.

The streaks of yellow that glistened across the stars in the void looked amazing and numbered more than three when civilians glanced up from their planetary homes. The hedgehogs' speed was that incredible. Majora was having trouble keeping up its mighty swings against them. If the monster did swing, it failed to strike. Now on the defensive completely, Majora forced Adam to grow to its ultimate height. The hybrid of good and evil dominated by the shadow now towered bigger than small planets.

Awestruck, the three legendary hedgehogs made sure they were caught up in the same chaos control that took them all where Majora's Perfect Chaos intended on inflicting mass destruction next.

Only the Mario brothers along with Ness remained in Fourside for the rebuilding efforts there after Porky's surprise attack. Blaziken and Lucas were nearby in Mr. Saturn Village and praying to the sapphire star to reach the super forms that were fighting the evil they were all indirectly facing. The boy meditated and, forcing how much he still missed his nuclear family after seven years apart out of his mind for now, forced the focus of his hopes for the team, a new family, through to the chaos emerald that helped power the trio in space now. None of them knew that if the beast were still here, it would be large enough to destroy Trinity in one blow.

King Dedede and Sheik were in the village too but receiving medical attention, both sorry that they could not contribute to the cause more at the moment. Sheik was almost smitten with the motives and feelings of the Dreamland king, and he questioned her about what her life was like before Nintendo and where she came from. Without revealing her emotional baggage, mostly her empathy for the future land of Hyrule that she allowed to be destroyed, Sheik answered the king's questions and was obviously glad to. Needless to say, the king was shocked when Sheik finally transformed into her true form of a beautiful princess.

Lucas was holding his hands clasped with fingers interlocked in front of his face. The tender soul spoke aloud into the star: "Please keep everybody safe. They deserve to make it out of this. And please take care of the people who are gone already. Make them welcome in whatever heaven they're in, please…"

Sonic was frustrated with the constant cowardice in the monster's warping. He ricocheted back and forth against the incantation, never losing his rate of acceleration despite the constant changing in direction to build up momentum. Lost in their attacks as well, Shadow and Silver were unaware of what the beast was really doing. It just wanted to kill as much as it could before it was defeated now. They all bounced relentlessly off the creature while it quickly destroyed the planet of Rock Star with one hand swipe.

The volcanoes and crystal-filled caverns of the planetoid were utterly obliterated, and their lives of millions of monsters and species were snuffed out at once. Silver levitated the remnants of the planet and its life in space, hurling his newfound ammunition against the deplorable leviathan. He was angry now too. He had not seen this tragedy coming in his mind. The future was uncertain now as he and his friends struggled to win the battle against Adam and the mask that had taken hold of him.

Atop a floating Elysian city, Blaze was thinking of her lover, and she knew deep in her heart that he could accomplish anything. He had cheated death and saved so many others from it before after all. The Chozo shrine and its statues enshrouded the garnet star in this heavenly sanctuary sheltered from all the winds that eroded Elysia's ancient, floating architecture. Samus and Anthony knew all too well the former bounty hunter's struggle, and Adam had it worse not having a choice in the matter of being a fugitive from the Galactic Federation. Higgs' colleagues were probably trying to contain the damage, but Aran knew from experience that the universe was going to sort itself out the way it wanted to. The challenge of the hedgehogs and miracles gems was just part of all that destiny.

Marth and Ike, both legends to each other in their own outrealms of which they came from, were learning more about each other's cultures and journeys. That friendship and understanding manifested itself into well wishes into the shining garnet. Well wishes from the royalty of Akaneia and honor of the Greil shot out of the purple emerald in the super-powered souls of the hedgehogs.

Wanting a kid of their own someday soon (something Falco never would have believed he would be thinking), Falco and Katt felt some serious empathy for Shadow and Tikal. This was a feeling they tried to send their way as positively as they could, and it helped in the fight that was nearing its end now. Samus was the one speaking now. They all listened with a spiritual connection they felt with the star-shaped gem before them.

"You guys are all so strong. I know you can defeat our enemy. And I feel like you too, Adam, can destroy what's holding you back. The real you…that's what we need in this universe. Kindness. Youthful innocence. Enthusiasm. Optimism. We all need more of that. We need you to come back to make everything better…"

Chaos control. The hedgehogs could beat him, but they could not stop that from happening. They were in a faraway section of the galaxy now. Majora's Perfect Chaos shoved its fist into the planet Jatsuk before the animals could do anything about it. They knew they just had to continue to attack as ferociously and as fast as possible to end this with the least amount of casualties possible. The brown furry creatures, with the capability of a community making machinery that Samus had meant once, all screamed out. One strike was all it took for the rest of the planet to collapse on itself, leaving a ruptured mantle and scattered crust in its wake.

"That's enough. This has to end now!" yelled Sonic as Silver prepared something huge.

The telekinetic hedgehog tried to form a force field large enough to contain Adam, but it broke free without much trouble. The attempt of creating a planet-sized shield left Silver tired and nearly running out of energy to contain himself.

"Ugh…Guys, don't worry about me…If I lose my super form, I can still breathe in space if I keep a shield up around myself…argh…" uttered Silver.

"We're not worried about that, you fool! Focus your effort on attacks that make sense next time!" argued Shadow.

"Sorry…"

"And that time is now," said Sonic. "We'll never take him out without your help, Silver. There's three of us for a reason."

With rejuvenated resolve, Silver knew Sonic and Shadow spoke the truth and joined them in a final assault. With how fast they all moved, the light was almost completely shrouding the demonic colossus. Majora was shunned by the light and frightened at its impending death. The laser shot out one last time, and it managed to escape barely. One last use of chaos control was all the wrath had left. The hedgehogs shot through space and time to stay with it for good.

Fox, Wolf, Krystal, Lucy, Captain Falcon and Tails were all hovering in their starships around the crystal star, outlined by the light of the Lylat star. From their vantage point, they could see the space-time rift appear in Sector Z, tearing the nebula apart momentarily as the fight against pure evil continued on.

"I can only see flashes of light really…other than that thing they're fighting. It's grown to cosmic proportions. That can't be real!" shouted Lucy.

"I can sense their thought patterns. They're winning!" Krystal reported.

"Or at least they think they are," replied Wolf. "Maybe we should keep our focus on sending good vibes their way. Again, I don't really believe in that stuff, but…"

"Oh, come off it, hairy guy!" yelled the Captain with some righteous encouragement. "We all have to believe in something. I mean, look at the fight they're putting up! I'd say believing in those guys and this star are as good things as any to trust in right now. Let's go Sonic! Come on, Silver and Shadow! Show that monster what true speed is!"

"I agree. I'm wishing my absolute hardest. I know we've all been doing the same, so let's not stop now." Tails secretly wished for Sonic's good fortune. He felt like a bad friend, but nothing like that mattered right now.

Fox McCloud summed everything up so well. As Nintendo's leader, he always did.

"We have just as much power on our side as that creature they're fighting does. They each have the drive to win too. But we have the support of those we love. All that thing loves his destruction. Therefore…I'm not even holding my breath. I'm not worried if we'll win…because in a sense, we already have. Now we just have to show the rest of the universe that we've done it. We're going to rebuild the worlds after this is over, and this galaxy will have hope in its grasp once again."

The plasma of Sector Z floated around the heroes and their villain. Victory was certain for Silver, Sonic and Shadow, and the latter's mind was only on saving his son. Sonic climbed around the massive body of Adam's corrupted form. Super Sonic struck at every inch as it covered the tattooed surface of the creature. Super Silver shot lasers from his hands that blasted the beast into oblivion. Super Shadow stopped time when these attacks became a success and Majora's Perfect Chaos screamed out into the silence of space.

The godlike hedgehog, redeemed through his love for Tikal and his son and indebted to the stars, emeralds and friends that made that possible, reached out towards his son. Sonic was floating back away from the beast as it shrunk through time. The lasers dissipated from Silver's palms, and Adam's muscles were shrinking back to their normal size. Adam was smaller than his father again, just still covered in the purple and red Majora had painted over his tiny body.

With tears in his eyes and the effect of chaos control's slowing of time still allowing for his melancholy, Shadow cradled his son in his arms, fully ready to know his fate. He forced his left ear down to his son's mouth that was, indeed, still breathing beneath the infernal mask. As the intense colors faded from his body to reveal soft orange again, Adam squirmed around, moving for himself in the first time in a while. His dad ripped the mask off immediately when he could and threw it away to drift in space.

Chaos control faded away, and neither side was going to use it again that day. Adam opened his eyes as Sonic and Silver went quickly down to see him too. The boy was too tired to do or say anything, but he smiled as he drifted off to sleep. He was alive. That was the most important thing to Shadow, having finished the battle against the Majora creature who had wanted nothing but a powerful complement to its rage. It was also the most important thing to Tikal, who so far away on Mobius, somehow knew her family was all right. The miracle gems had done their job as predicted by their divine creators, and they were finally reunited too.

Silver had put a force field around Adam to give him oxygen. Sonic had grabbed up the evil mask, so they could destroy it for good later. They all warped straight to the Pillar. Shadow's trajectory was never off its mark anymore. The doctors and nurses were overjoyed to hear of the mission's success, especially after having heard of all the doom and despair on the news. They took Adam to a room to check if he was truly okay. Everything was checking out. The seven Crystal Stars told the praying heroes that their jobs were done too. There was a lot of service to be done for the people and places Majora ruined or left completely destroyed in its furious wake, but, for now, everyone was too overcome with the thought of seeing their favorite new member of Nintendo, even he was still asleep.

And when he did finally wake up, the entire crew was going to be there to welcome him back home. Pit, Palutena and Viridi, who had all just defeated Hades and Medusa again in the depths of the Underworld (and were also ready to take on the plot of time-space Tabuu had so kindly set aside for them for the near future) were about to return too. It was going to be a full ensemble to see the shining blue eyes of Adam's face greet them. For a moment in this countdown of absolution, all the members of Nintendo were going to be at peace.

Adam shuffled around in his sleep as if his inner self could feel the pressure around him: all the nice people waiting for him to wake up. But he still had to keep them waiting; he was having a fluid nightmare anyway. Majora's creepy incarnation loomed above, below, in front and behind him, and if often consumed him. Sometimes it just ran right into him, leaving the innocent boy screaming every time. It hurt a lot, and the pain just compounded in the absolute darkness. Before he woke up, Adam thought he heard the mask say: "Your fate…is to always stay with me!"

He jerked awake at first in the hospital bed but then quickly shrank back into the pillows and sheets, not ready for the blinding light hitting his retinas or the swarm of people around him. Shadow had probably insisted, he thought, that only the doctor, Tikal and him be there. But then his mom had probably said to let some in: the ones who could respect his boundaries at least. That would be a good compromise, Adam thought. After the initial shock of waking, he was actually glad that so many of his friends were there to see him.

The little guy loosened the hold of his squinting eyelids, and his eyes were met with anxious, shining ones of some of his favorite people from home. His parents knew him so well after only a month of life. Of course, Adam never thought it weird that he had grown so rapidly. The others had never really seen anything like it though, not even in worlds of magic and the futuristic extents of some worlds' present-day technology. He looked the build of a ten-year-old boy but, in reality, was only less than a year old. His mind was on the level of the average older teenager, and his connection with others was unparalleled by most. But still, if you knew him well enough, he would still let you know he was a kid through his innocent nature of cheerfulness, something that made everyone around him very happy to see. The people in the room were happy to see a faint glimmer of it now. He was obviously still hurting though too.

Shadow and Tikal were on either side of their son, both caressing Adam's face now and kissing him, making him blush in front of the rest. Sonic and Silver were also there, fitting that the other two of his ultimate saviors were also huge fans of his. Adam saw Mr. McCloud (the leader insisted he be called Fox though), Koopaling Larry, Lucario and Malon amongst the others. They all gave him time to speak. Any questions of what happened were quickly dismissed by the crowd around Adam. The boy could remember blackness and an intense heat for the longest time, and anything before that was spent with his parents on Angel Island. He had no idea what had happened to him.

After heartfelt pleasantries with some of his best friends and the Koopaling who he had barely met before this moment, Adam felt himself drifting off into sleep again. He so desperately wanted answers to what had happened to him while he was out, but that could not keep him awake any longer. The vessel of Majora slowly sank back into the abyss of nightmares again, and only Shadow and Tikal remained to watch over him while he slept.

The gang looked at the tank of fluids before them. In it was Majora's Mask. It stared back at them creepily. Fox wondered if it knew that they were talking about its destruction. It did need to be destroyed completely and absolutely. He was surrounded with what he thought were the most competent of Nintendo warriors and strategists. If the brash mercenary had an advisory board, this was it. The committee consisted of Silver, Krystal, Samus, Palutena, Lucario, Jeff and Groose funnily enough.

"I've figured that we need a weapon to destroy this thing…" Fox began. "Because obviously, if one of us tries to destroy it, the thing may just latch onto you for your power. Then we'd be in this mess all over again."

"But how do we know if we can destroy this thing for good?" asked Krystal, knowing the worried thoughts of others too. "Even if it disintegrates into nothingness, could it still survive through magic somehow?"

"Indeed," chimed in Palutena. "This mask was used in the rituals of a tribe of old. There is certainly some divine power within this mask. But it's also like its own living entity. I'm not sure whether it's best to destroy it…or keep it locked up."

"But then we're just waiting to be destroyed again if we keep hanging onto it for the future," said Samus. "If we kill it, we may at least be free of it for some time…and forever potentially."

Jeff questioned, "Is there even a weapon out there that could completely obliterate it? A weapon that's not contingent on the power of a person? I've never been able to make something that destructive…not when compared to this thing."

"Perhaps a beam of the most potent energy could rip right through this demon…but neither Silver nor I should risk shooting it, as per Fox's advice. Where do we find this laser?"

"So just your typical explosion wouldn't be direct enough?" mused the engineer Groose. "I guess that makes sense."

"We need the best chance possible to eliminate it," said Fox.

"The Space Colony ARK," Silver muttered softly but loud enough to be heard within the closed-off room. He started again, a little louder now: "The eclipse cannon…after all it's gone through…is still operational…"

Through the rest of the meeting, nothing seemed like a more surefire success than the Eclipse Cannon. Fox decided at the meeting's adjournment that a group of some of the best warriors among them would take the mask and see to its necessary destruction. Everyone needed to rest first, but after a good night's sleep and a well-fed morning of waking heroes, the mission to finally destroy Majora's Mask would commence.

When Adam woke, his parents were gone. They had gone out quickly to get something to eat themselves and also bring back some food, definitely reheatable, for whenever their son was going to wake up hungry. Honestly, Adam felt it was sort of nice to wake up alone right now. His first moments as himself again were excessively smothered in the love of not only his family but his entire extended family in the ranks of all the people he admired here. The feeling of taking a deep breath after a long sleep here in his home and sanctuary felt so good again. He felt nothing could make that feeling dissipate. Nothing did until moments later when the boy turned on the TV set above and in front of his bed, and there the news was on to tell him everything he had done when the real him had not been around.

Adam went through a strange process of grieving right then. The headlines of "hundreds of millions dead across the galaxy" and "unfathomable monster ravages peaceful worlds" shocked him now and would stick with him forever. The images of destruction, graphic displays of the horror on countless worlds and emotional testimonials elicited by teary-eyed reporters made his heart sink into his stomach, causing a chain reaction to send tears welling up through his head and out and down across his face almost instantly. More detailed reports at news desks as he flicked through all channels that showed the same devastation really made it sink in. He knew he had not done any of this, but something had controlled his body to make it all possible. The distraught boy ran his fingers crazily through his hair as he could barely understand or believe what was happening. All of this was in a couple minutes before Shadow and Tikal could come back to reach their son in time and think about telling him a watered down version of what had happened to him and the worlds. The parents of the powerful, immortal child were caught off-guard completely by the sight of their child in shambles on the medical bed.

"Adam…" said his mother as she instantly knelt down to hug him. She was already painfully aware that her boy knew the truth.

Shadow's gut reaction was to throw a chaos spear into the TV. It was slightly faster than grasping for the remote at Adam's bedside. Then again, Shadow realized destroying the set was probably a good thing if his son's natural curiosity got the better of him again.

The three critters were a wreck. Two of them tried to console the one crying so heavily, deeply and uncontrollably that his body was shaking with tears and cries. Hope was completely gone on the parents' side of trying to ease their boy into this grim, unfortunate reality for the galaxy. Adam could not help but focus on the fact that his self was the core of all this tragedy he had just learned about only moments before. It is all he focused on. And that is why he kept sobbing, his mind racing about what he must have done, all through that night. But that is also why Shadow and Tikal never left their son's bedside, with either of their arms wrapped around Adam at all times.

"We figured we'd want you along for the ride," said Silver jokingly to his wife.

"Haha…" came the sarcastic reply. "There's more than just I who could be fit for this mission, Silver. Admit it: you just want me on the mission, so we can spend even more time with each other."

"You don't have to hold a gun to my head to get me to admit that, Blaze! We work so well together…it would feel like a part of me was missing if I wasn't fighting, flying or infiltrating something without you, heh."

Blaze was touched but also struggled to get over how cheesy what her husband just said was. "Yeah, I know. So who else is coming with us to the ARK?"

"Let's see, um, it's you, me, Fox and Krystal, Samus, Ike and that Lucas boy, I believe. Sir McCloud likes to vary things up a bit…also, as long as his squeeze is there with him too!"

"I get it, Silver. Being able to fight evil with your spouse is quite the bonding experience that most couples don't get to have. With your optimism, there's got to be some way we can be happy about the end of the world we're in too!" exclaimed Blaze.

"Perhaps it's bringing us closer as a team, now that you say something about it. As heroes, it's our job to make the best of terrible situations!"

"Not arrogant calling yourself a hero, are you?"

"True," muttered Silver. "But to be fair, others have called us that first. Also, I do think we're all heroes if we truly believe we are and act on those honest beliefs."

"Maybe after this year is over, you can finally focus on being an inspirational speaker!" came another sarcastic, joking reply from the fiery cat. Bickering was essentially this couple's foreplay, and making the worlds better places seemed to fit that bill too.

The anthropomorphic couple first met up with Fox and Krystal, and the pack continued into the Pillar's main hangar where Samus, Ike and Lucas were already waiting. Even the psychic boy did not seem worried this time. They were all ready for their mission, and now Morton Koopa Jr. towed the vat in which Majora's Mask was being held, ready for its chance at escape and the others ready to destroy it for good. The seven warriors were ready to board their ship with precious evil cargo inside. They had decided to use a stolen Space Pirate craft just in case the mission grew violent and they could not return home the way they came. A random frigate would not draw attention, and hopefully the stealth features would protect against detection if GUN were roaming nearby space. The spacecraft blasted out of the bay. Its fated destination was the Space Colony ARK.

GUN was actually preoccupied with another aspect of the travesty that had befallen its world and others; they were not patrolling the space colony. They did not recognize that as a top GUN priority anymore. The Commander was on his way to the Pillar to hopefully find out more of what happened. Nintendo had yet to give an official report to the United Governments of Nintendia, and GUN on behalf of their country was the first union to grow restless. Part of that was the Commander's personal restlessness.

A young journalist from Corneria was on her way to the Pillar too. After the McClouds had denied so many from her industry from interviewing their heroes before, preferring only official reports out of courtesy to the United Governments since they lived in space outside of anyone's jurisdiction, most reporters gave up on ever getting the scoop directly from Nintendo headquarters. The vixen Kelly Atlas was not like most reporters.

Meanwhile, Adam found that he was so dehydrated that he literally had no more tears to cry. If it was not for his parents forcing him to eat and drink, he probably would not have. He was still having trouble trying to find reasons to care about himself after he knew what he did. Majora did it, he thought. That is what he kept trying to tell himself, but he knew, or rather felt, that he would never forgive himself for being an instrument of destruction.

Shadow now struggled to sleep beside his boy in a chair next to his bedside. In his dreamy state, he could not help but wonder if he passed on his ability to always be too hard on himself down to his son. Tikal had crawled into the tiny bed with her son, much to his unsuccessful protest.

Adam should have been asleep as well. He felt exhausted in every sense of the word after all. But…he just could not sleep. He decided to take a walk around. He managed to get out of bed without waking either of his parents. The soft pads of his big feet fit for a much taller version of himself made very little noise in his room as he left. Walking around again was a simple pleasure he had not recognized how grateful he was for it until now. Lights in the main hallways were all turned off. The Pillar had its own clock, and for the most part, the people living there abided by it in terms of work and sleep. Then again, there were some heroes that barely had time for sleep. Adam had always admired them the most.

Seeing the intricate majesty of what he thought must be the coolest, most comfortable place in the whole universe helped get his mind off his depression and self-depreciation a little. His demonic form and actions, always imprinted in his head by what he had seen on the news, still nagged at him in the back of his head. So, he tried to focus on the good deeds of those around him. He reminded himself of each of his role model's successes as he passed by each of their rooms. Perhaps, he thought, he needed to learn more about their failures in order to accept what happened to him. Adam needed to hear some reassurance from more than just his parents (who he knew were wonderful but would also be acting so loving if Adam had consciously done these bad things) who would help him come to grips with what had happened and the future potential his wise, fledgling mind wanted to see.

First, he wanted to talk to Pit whose chambers were close by. He nervously knocked at the door and was instantly let in by an enthusiastic yet yawning Pit. Adam apologized for waking him, but Pit was hearing none of it. He leaped back upon his bed made of magical clouds which simulated his old home in Skyworld. His right sandal propped upon his other knee and his hands an extra pillow behind his head, Pit eagerly asked what was wrong. Adam was so touched by Pit's kindness and honest curiosity, despite being woken at such an hour and at a time, unknowingly to Adam, when the angel needed his rest.

The boy explained how he was feeling and how he had always admired the tales of him beating up Underworld baddies and slaying both Medusa and Hades. He had banished so many evil creatures from the mortal holy world of Trinity that Adam, the growing, naïve echidhog, wondered if Pit ever failed.

"Well, little guy," started Pit excitedly, weirdly so to Adam as the angel was about to talk about a deep personal regret, "there was actually something that happened to me a few years back that, like you now, I had no control over at the time. Yet, like you too, I beat myself up about it constantly, even after having righted the wrongs that came from it. In the middle of this huge war, I was sealed inside this stupid, little ring…for three years! For three long years, I wasn't around to help humans or gods. Even the heavens were disgraced because I wasn't there to protect them. It…well, actually wasn't until recently that I just stopped thinking about it."

"Why did you stop?" asked the small boy.

"I realized, better late than never I guess, that beating myself up about something I couldn't have controlled or prevented wasn't accomplishing anything. It was just making myself feel worse. And then, I thought, if it made me feel worse, well then I would probably be a pretty lousy angel in all respects right now. So I finally stopped dwelling on it. I know what happened to you is terrible, but you have to know that it wasn't your fault. It's also no use wondering how things could've gone differently. If you can't change it now, Adam, try to focus on the future and what will help you and other people that are still alive."

"That does help, Pit. Thank you so much."

"I'm just glad I could make you feel a little better, buddy. I know I haven't had a real good chance to get to know you yet. But, I hear everyone say how kind and special you are! You don't deserve to beat yourself up. Judging by the looks of you now compared to when you came in, it looks like you were pretty good at it."

This made Adam laugh a little. Pit was so nice.

"We all love you here, Adam. Know that for sure! We are all here to get you through this. Heh, speaking of, I guess I should tell you I won't actually be here for you in the next however long I'll be gone. At least not physically; I'll be here in spirit!"

"Where are you going?" asked the boy.

"Well, if you can believe it – wait, I know you can because you're smart and your dad's probably talked about the maze enough already – anyway, I'm actually going to redo all those heroic exploits and crippling failures all over again haha!"

"That's right…" remembered Adam. "I imagine that will be weird."

"Yep, everything with that ring, Hades, Medusa, the Aurum, Wish Seed, Lightning Chariot, all of that. It has to be redone for some reason! That Tabuu guy must be the biggest jerk in the universe, I tell ya! I mean, I sorta knew that because I fought him before, but this is on a whole 'nother level of evil!"

"True. If anything is worse than that Majora creature that took over my body, it's Tabuu. Especially since he promises the end of the world, and Mrs. McCloud knows he's not bluffing."

"Oh, really? Well, I guess I better take this mission extra serious. I didn't know she was so good at reading minds that she could make her telepathic way through all that noise to read that blue, shiny guy's bald noggin. He may look goofy, but I ASSUME he's a god…"

"Yeah…well, good luck out there Pit. I hope everything works out, and you and Palutena come back even safer than when you left!"

"Thanks, buddy! It will be weird doing all of this again, but from the talk of those who went in their mazes early, apparently upon entering you revert to the age you were at that time and your memory is temporarily wiped as if you were fighting evil the exact same as before. It's really just all over again, but we don't know it when we're inside. Yeesh, I'm sure remembering doing it for a second time when we finish will give us major headaches when we finally return to well-deserved naps."

"I can't imagine how that must feel," muttered Adam. "I'm sure you'll kick butt again though! Good thing time moves much faster to us while you're in that maze. Hopefully, that will make that three-yearlong sleep in that ring faster for you."

"I hope so, bud. Take care, Adam. Now! It is time for my mightiest sleep ever! It is time to prepare to relive the past by sleeping the real world away!" joked Pit.

Adam's conversation with the angel had helped put things into perspective. He did not really feel like he needed the consoling of others anymore, but he bumped into Midna floating in her imp form with a variety of snacks in her colossal hair hand on the way back to his room.

"Oh, sorry," started Adam before Midna dominated the meeting.

"Adam! I'm so glad you're all right. You had more people here worried than we've ever been worried about anyone, eee hee!"

"That's so kind of you guys…I'm not that important though…"

"Yes, you are! You're the cutest kid around and almost the cutest thing too if I weren't here, eee hee hee!" exclaimed Midna with a wink.

This made Adam laugh, and Midna was glad it did. Still preferring the power of her 'monstrous' form compared to her true one, Midna offered Adam to come over and meet Link and some others.

Celebrating after the epic mission to save the boy, Midna, Link, Say'ri, Katt, Anthony and Lakilester were gathered around some kind of card game and the delicious bounty Midna had brought back with her. No one had expected her to bring the sweetest kid they had all worked so hard to save the day prior, so they erupted in happy greetings that made Adam feel so fuzzy inside that the hard, jagged core of what had happened was softened completely in the moment.

"Thank you all for working so hard to save me and…" Adam was going to say the galaxy, but he stopped to remember that his possession caused the deaths of millions. Millions that could have been saved if this had not happened in the first place.

Others in the group did not recognize the pause in Adam's speech as a sign of his guilt though. For all they knew, Adam did not yet know about what had happened. They rejoiced in fellowship and sweets for an hour or so until everyone retired except for the Twilight Princess who barely had to sleep to keep functioning. It was a good thing too because running a kingdom in another realm entirely from a base in space above the other world it was a parallel of was exhausting work for the woman.

Adam's memory of his guilt was starting to flood back in his mind, so he thought of asking a question. "Does doing so much ever get tiring or too tough, Midna? Have you ever failed like I did yesterday?"

Midna had a quick wit. She had not known until then that Adam was aware of what he had done in possessed form, but now Midna immediately thought of something to say that would assuage Adam's internal nightmarish struggle.

"I've failed plenty, Adam. And never like you because my failures are worse. It's because I was consciously making choices that, in the end, were to devastate my people. You were being controlled. That mask wasn't you. I should now because I'm familiar with its type of magic."

"I hope most people think you're right, but not everyone has as much faith in a random kid like you all do."

"Well…you're anything but a random kid to us. We love you; we're family. I'm glad we can call ourselves that. If we couldn't, this would be an empty existence floating up here in such dark space. I like darkness, but up here is ridiculous, eee hee."

"Thank you so much." Adam didn't know what else to say for a moment. "I love everyone here too. It's such a great feeling…"

"Oh, and about others not believing your story if you want to tell the galaxy you were controlled by that demon – it ultimately doesn't matter if they all believe you. Your happiness cannot depend on the thoughts of others. I did that for the longest time, and it's not healthy."

"What was that exactly?" questioned Adam after he continued his repetitious and heartfelt thanks.

"When I was the ruler of my people in the Twilight Realm, I was only ever happy when almost all of the Twili were happy. People, though, can be so different, so you can imagine even before Zant usurped the throne, I wasn't happy much of the time. Being friends…" Midna hesitated at telling someone so young the rest. "…and more with Link has taught me to accept life as it is and focus on yourself first. Hone your values and then strive to make the galaxy a better place."

"That IS amazing advice," muttered Adam.

"Yes, it is. I'm going to go thank my hero again, eee hee. You should know too, Adam, that in a lot of ways you're a hero to people here too. I was talking with the others before, and when we prayed into those Crystal Stars, everyone talked about how we couldn't lose someone so kind, innocent and hopeful from our family."

The interactions with Midna and her friends was uplifting too. The boy still wondered if the adjective "innocent" could describe him that well anymore. Even if nothing could have prevented his possession and the destruction of worlds and their people, it was still his body involved. That could not mean he was a completely innocent kid anymore.

Going down a few floors to return to his hospital room, Adam ran into another older mentor. Wolf O'Donnell was grinning ear to pointy ear to see the cute, little runt. If others were around, they would have been quick to remark that that was not an expression they were used to seeing on the bounty hunter. Of course, most would say this for the dual benefit of making Adam feel special but also for the sake of poking fun at a ruthless mercenary gone soft in the big hero tower in space.

The leader of Star Wolf offered to talk with Adam at his place, and at this point since Adam was having so much personal success talking with his heroes, he was not going to pass up another opportunity to learn and grow.

"I want you to know that you shouldn't feel bad about yourself," started Wolf when they got to O'Donnell's minimalistic bunker of a bedroom.

Adam was surprised. Did he already know about his own knowledge of what he had done? He did not even have to ask about Wolf's thoughts and failures.

"Sorry, I'm blunt, but I think you know that," said Wolf as he answered Adam's blank stare. "By the look on your face, I could tell you already knew about…you know, the dead and the news jumping to conclusions of the apocalypse and everything."

"Yeah…yeah, I know," said Adam uneasily, almost ready to cry at his thoughts then.

"But hey, kid, instead of getting down on yourself for no good reason, you should get angry at the evil that did that to you and want to do something about similar evils in the future. Hell, it's not like you failed on purpose. Something controlled you and made you do its bidding."

"I know, thanks," came Adam's usual reply. "A lot of you guys have been telling me that, reassuring me and I do appreciate it…really."

"Good," said Wolf's stern voice. "Then believe it because it's true. If I can get over purposely being an agent of evil for Andross, trying to kill Fox and stoke the flames of interplanetary war years ago, then you can get over being brainwashed by an evil god."

Adam really thought about that statement. He compared Wolf's dark past with Pit's and Midna's accidental lapses in their duty. Actively fighting heroes was not like being locked inside a ring or having your throne stolen away from you without your say in those matters. And still, Wolf was here having forgiven himself for wrongs he knew were wrong. Those were wrongs he had actually wanted to commit too and did. While the consequences of Adam's possession were much more terrible, he had not ever wanted it and was just a tool for a demonic god as Wolf had said. Berating himself did not seem like something that would do any good at all anymore. In fact, Adam thought now that it would not even feel right.

The young boy thanked Wolf for his advice and honesty. He was surrounded by heroes and was happy to finally go back and tell two more, his parents, about how he was feeling better now. Not perfect. That might be impossible. But at least he could breathe without sighing or drowning in his own tears. He was right near his hospital room door when a soft, little voice from behind slightly startled him.

"H-hi!" said Lemmy the Koopaling.

Adam turned around and was immediately pleased to see such a happy face. The smile was unsure and his posture nervous, but the boy found the youngest of Bowser's Koopalings cute and approachable.

"Hi!" said Adam back. He had not made friends with anyone his age (or at least those who appeared and acted the way he did) mostly because the Pillar was full of adults. "What are you doing up so late?"

"Actually, I was just exploring this place. I'm still sorta new here with my brothers and sister having felt the need recently to turn over this new leaf thing. So, um, yeah, and I just happened to see you. I've always wanted to meet you…"

Lemmy was lying about the coincidence of meeting him here. He desperately wanted to get to know Adam. From afar, he seemed so cool and nice and…unexpected. Lemmy wanted this friend who was like him but obviously more awesome and amazing.

"I still love doing that too!" responded Adam. "We should do it together some time soon. What's your name?"

"L-Lemmy," stammered the young Koopa. "And yeah, that would be fun. Thanks for wanting to, Adam."

"Well, thank you for something to look forward to, Lemmy. I can't wait to hang out soon. But for now, I think I should go back to bed."

"Yep, of course! I hope you feel as go-ood as possible. I'm so glad you're back and safe with us again…"

"That means so much, Lemmy," said Adam honestly. "Thanks for caring and meeting me tonight."

Soon-to-be best friends went separate ways that night. Both felt a flock of Butterfree in their stomachs. They were excited to have a new friend. Now, it made sense why a different Koopaling had shown up to see if Adam was okay before. Lemmy was too adorably shy to meet his idol so soon.

The Space Colony ARK raid was easier than expected at first. Upon reaching its vicinity, Silver opened up the back hatch of the ship and used a force field to protect the group from the vacuum of space. Lucas created a PSI magnet around the vat that housed Majora and flung it into the path of the defunct Eclipse Cannon. Fox and his gang were not planning on having that weapon out of commission for long. Samus piloted the ship and docked it expertly. They all rushed into the corridors and made their way to the central control.

Only Silver had stayed behind with the ship. When Fox had reached the cannon control with the Chaos Emeralds in tow, he was going to have Krystal call to the hedgehog to hold Majora's Mask in place, so that it would be obliterated by the ARK's laser. The plan was changing it seemed. Silver glanced over at the meteors and upside down towers surrounding the vat the mask was in. It was an oddly picturesque sight for sure, but Silver also noticed the mask moving around again. He flew out their quickly and held the beast telepathically between his hands as the mask writhed, finally breaking out of the tube that encased her. Even worse, Silver had no way of using his radio out in the cold, dark vacuum of space.

Majora had sensed what the heroes were planning to do and decided to try everything to stop them. Mirages of Majora popped throughout the hallways the gang was running through. These demon-like apparitions struck out with their tentacles. Ike, Lucas and Samus hung back to take on the monsters, distracting them from their true target: Fox and the Chaos Emeralds. Old technology was starting to sprout again from the remains of the space station. Artificial Chaos tried to wrap its intruders in their grasp, but Fox, Krystal and Blaze were much too fast to get caught by the experiments.

Silver was starting to panic. He knew he was insanely powerful compared to most of his comrades, but most of his comrades could not transform like the demon he was holding. Majora's Mask altered itself into Majora's Incantation with its sickly limbs bobbling about, trying to kick at and swat its restrainer. The hedgehog was worrying how much powerful it could become and how long it would take his friends to reach the cannon. Hopefully the Eclipse Cannon would work once the emeralds were in….

Samus was shooting at the beasts that enveloped them. Ike slashed his blade in the direction of the pawns that were trying to make their way to Fox and Krystal. Lucas froze the beasts who would have been on Fox's and Krystal's tails. The trio was holding their own, and the other three had made it into the dark void that was the once pulsating control room for the Eclipse Cannon.

"I'll hold them off!" yelled Blaze as Majora's ghosts and Gerald's monsters flooded to the doorway. "Fire up that cannon! I'm sure Silver's there already and wanting to get this over with already!"

A wall of flame erupted from her being, and Krystal kept tabs on the others with her mind. Everyone was all right for now. Fox scrambled to get the Chaos Emeralds in their slots. Krystal began to fire up the cannon's mainframe. She thanked the gods it was actually working after all this time alone in the ARK.

Silver's hold on Majora was beginning to slip at this point. His groans became increasingly loud, and his muscles strained along with his mind as he could barely hold on to Majora who was growing stronger and larger. Majora's Wrath became her realized self; Silver's migraine only grew worse. He knew it could not be much longer for his friends to get the Eclipse Cannon running again….

As if providence was on the heroes' side after killing so many innocents at the hands of the demon they were trying to finally destroy, the green field of neon energy sparkled within the cannon's fragments. Those fragments grew wider now, so Silver was sure and quick to get out of the way, floating and still holding Majora's Wrath within his grasp. The green beam of light erupted from the Space Colony ARK for the first time in years, and Majora was utterly destroyed as it screamed into the energy that consumed her. Completely disintegrated by the blinding light that knew no evil nor good, Majora faded completely out of existence. Fox's mission was successful. Silver's mission was successful. The idea had worked.

While the apparitions of Majora were dispersing and the heroic gang were making their way from the ARK (its experiments now practice fodder for the heroes to play with), Adam crawled back into bed while morning in the Pillar broke. It was just him and his parents. Everything was supposed to be fine now (well, at least calm: Adam would never fully get over what had happened), and it was until something powerful awoke the entire family.

This transformation was going to be different. It was smaller but more frightening for the host of the parasites inside him; Adam was conscious and awake for this one. The latent energy that had been destroyed in the physicality of the mask had been passed on to Adam, the potential power source it was ultimately drawn to, but now weaker, it could only alter the body of the young boy and not his mind or soul.

Adam's growth was painful and sporadically fast. His parents awoke first, startled by the boy engorged with magic and new muscle as he slept. Shadow and Tikal shook their son awake too. To his horror, the nightmare had not calmed down any. Adam shrieked with surprise and fear at what he was becoming again. His hands were massive in front of his face, and his feet were huge splayed against the wall in front of his medical bed. A hulking form was emerging through the once small frame of the innocent boy. His abdomen was wrapped with enough muscle to encircle the largest hilltop trees. His legs were as thick as most of the trunks. Adam struggled to keep his arms close to his body, so they would not be released out of his control to hit his parents. They were on top of him, trying to calm their son, maybe possibly figure something out.

The new transformation was not yet over as Adam's clear blue eyes reverted back to the sickly yellow of Majora's. The Desbrachian that Adam had absorbed earlier in the fight with the hedgehog gods, his friends and father, had changed things too; the parasite's ingestion on Majora's twisted behalf sprouted sharp sickles that curved out of the furry quills on Adam's calves and forearms.

Nearly busting out of the room, Adam stopped growing, filled with Majora's wrath and energy and the parasite's weird and dangerous amenities that curved backward, threatening to pierce the massive thighs and biceps of the poor child. But after all of this and through it all too, Adam remained Adam, and since Majora was officially dead from the world, the boy kept sovereignty and control of his own body after the unfortunate transformation was complete. It was the first of many to come.

Shadow and Tikal were squeezed against the walls, trying to comfort their son and rationalize the situation. Adam could only lay in his sprawl, a massive hulk, crying like the few month-old infant that he truly was.

Kelly Atlas wanted the story. She needed to know the root of the tragedies that befell the galaxy, and being a reporter who always followed her gut, Atlas was determined to get a statement from Nintendo directly if not also go to extreme investigative lengths to uncover what really went wrong. In truth, she admired the heroes who gathered here, and rising up through the floors of the floating space station was an exhilarating thrill, one she managed to keep to herself while Hylians, Goombas and Galactic Federation retirees thought nothing of her presence.

While the rest of her industry (and most of her homeworld of Corneria) was preoccupied with relief efforts, Kelly thought it her place to get the story of the millennium. It just so happened to be that way. At such a high point in her career already, she rarely cared for brand image, ego or even the glass ceiling anymore. She desperately wanted the truth for herself and everyone, and that was nothing but an honest need.

She never found exactly who she was looking for, but Atlas stumbled upon the next best thing: the leader's wife.

"I'm sorry, but my husband is on Corneria providing support to the cities that were decimated," Krystal said to the reporter who could easily pass off for her twin. The burnt red fox had been practically twitching with anticipation to finally interview the Fox McCloud, but Krystal was pretty cool too. And knowledgeable. Kelly only hoped the vixen before her was not reading her mind.

"Don't worry, hon. I'm not reading your mind or anything like that." Krystal placed some emphasis and the bulk of her foreign accent on the word 'anything.' She also realized 'hon' was her picking up on Katt's slang for literally all people.

"Oh, I didn't mean anything…wait, how did you know what I was thinking?"

"Haha hm, I saw the look on your face. It's obvious when people know I'm a telepath."

"Oh, yeah, of course. So now that you know I'm a journalist…should I expect to be promptly kicked out?"

"No, I'm not as coarse as my husband," said Krystal as she smiled and laughed, trying to incite some of the same in the vixen reporter. "We tend to follow our official policy when dealing with the media now, but you seem respectable enough and no one has even bothered to get in before you. I can guess what you want to know about too."

"The galactic slaughters. Yes. I just wanted to know more, so I can tell people everywhere what really happened…and I'm assuming you guys didn't start this anyway. You only saved everything as fast as you could, I'm sure."

Kelly believed what she said, but in case she was wrong, networking with Krystal and appearing almost biased would probably work in her favor, she thought.

"So that's what they're calling them…well, galactic accidents and demonic misfortunes would be a more apt headline, but I'm sure we both understand sensationalism in the modern, interplanetary media. It is a long and complicated story, Ms. Atlas, but if you would like to get comfortable here for the next few hours, hopefully we can give you all the information you need. And hopefully get an honest reporter on our side too."

Kelly was thrilled. Not only was she about to get the story, but she could also enjoy the company of idolized heroes (and maybe the fabled cuisine too) while she was on assignment. It would be a bit longer than anticipated before she was able to talk with Adam and his family (who were understandably preoccupied at the moment with something big) along with a board of Nintendo superiors who could check the report would be handled responsibly.

In her down time, Kelly ran into Commander Tower who was doing some snooping on his own but without the permission of one of the superiors. Not willing to stand for the man's secrecy in a café where most of the heroes there had no clue to his somewhat infamous identity, Kelly confronted the man whom she had always heard so much about from the Mobius Chronicles after the Black Comet incident.

"Like me, you should just come out and talk to someone in charge here, Commander. You can reach Krystal McCloud over the comm link."

"You have no right to tell me how to do my job, young fox lady. Now get out of my way. I have the office of the president to serve."

The Commander tried to move past her, but Kelly became more firm. She pushed her hand into his chest, physically stopping him. She was trained in nine different martial arts from different planets, and he was pretty old after all, she thought…

"Well, firstly, Commander, I am a Cornerian vulpine, not a 'young fox lady.' I didn't call you stiff, white-haired man, did I?" Kelly was indignant. "And you may have a job to do, but it seems you are confused about what your work pertains. You have no jurisdiction here in the Pillar. Sorry to disillusion you, sir."

Kelly bitterly managed to add the 'sir' to cover all her bases. Sometimes respect was the most difficult one to cover.

The Commander did not have any good, well-oiled GUN answers left, and when Shadow saw him thirty minutes later, he was sternly dismissed with held-back threats that had not been felt in years. The Commander would have to harass other reporters in the future if he wanted to launch an investigation.

Lucario had seen Kelly tell off the Commander on behalf of Nintendo and general fairness, so being the humble yet now outspoken Pokémon he was, he thanked the journalist in great earnest.

Kelly had always wanted to meet a Lucario. Sometimes she had fantasies of training one on another planet, battling through one of the many Pokémon gym leagues and reigning as the champion. Being honest with herself and only herself, sometimes she had had other fantasies about that particular creature. She blamed the tomes and legends of old days gone far by….

"It was my pleasure and duty to stand up for you all. Heh, not to sound like too much of a fangirl, but I've always wanted to see a Lucario in person. Your species are even more beautiful and majestic up close!" Kelly was, indeed, fangirling, and the conversation had only begun.

"Um…" was all Lucario managed to push out through his mind to her as he blushed, the red of his hot blood showing bright beneath his soft, blue fur. He embarrassed easily.

"Oh!" Kelly always realized a little too late when she was being too upfront. "I mean…sorry, I didn't mean to offend or startle you. I'm a hard-hitting journalist; being overbearing is just in my personality. Heh…"

"No, it's fine. It's just…" Lucario paused. He had not imagined the conversation with this (he now just realized how attractive she really was) vixen going this poorly. And that was on him. "I'm flattered you think that way of my kind." Lucario blurted it out.

"Yeah…well, hopefully we can see each other some more while I'm here. I'd love to learn more about you, and there is no better source than you to do that!"

"Of course, I'll be around after you have that conference…" Lucario was now really looking forward to something today. "And I hope that goes well for you!"

And with awkward thanks and good-byes, Kelly went enthusiastically to get her story. She had no clue how complex it really was. And she also had no idea how her life that day was about to change forever.

Adam had only remorse in his speech of what he had done. But he also had no trouble with Kelly's questions and demeanor. He actually grew to like her very quickly (as he did with most people). Kelly's questions were naturally curious but inquisitive in her nature so far as to learn the truth and express a desire to want to inform people of what happened. Shadow and Tikal were there to help their son with reports for the good journalist on what the heroes had done to save Adam and the galaxy.

Fatigued from the interview and the tribulations he had gone through both consciously and possessed, Adam and his family decided to go on a vacation. Chaos control was a perfect mode of transportation, and in a pinch, the magic could set the family down in a wide, open space to let Adam unwillingly transform. The Pillar's medical staff had yet to deduce exactly what catalyzed the transformation (it seemed random) and why it was even happening rather than tearing the young boy apart.

Like the kind words of mentors had done before, Adam's parents' smiles and insisting to have fun took his mind off of his traumatic past more so than anything else could have done. It was still tough not to think about the past though. Between rafting aboard Plessie in Mushroom Kingdom waters and racing among the rooftops of Spagonia with his father, Adam admittedly had a lot of fun. Professor Pickles had arranged to keep the family in secret in one of his private villas. What really brought it all back to Adam in full force was, of course, how much bigger and scarier he became in his mind with each terrifying, unsettling transformation.

Lucario was shy and skeptical even while Kelly was away. He had not imagined he would become so (unbelievably) infatuated with someone at first meeting. In a way he wished that she would not be able to find him after her work was done. She did. And it happened faster than he had thought.

"Hi, again," said Kelly, excited to meet and learn more from the fascinating creature she had so long idolized. She was staying around for a few more days to hear testimonies from Nintendo's other members. That was the only way she was going to get the full scoop for her independent report. She knew putting such a weighted story in the hands of any one planet's media would have caused a frenzy in her industry. Perhaps she would lose her job on Corneria because of that….

Lucario interrupted her thoughts with an inquiry he thought too intrusive after he said, "Pardon me for reading your aura, but you seem noticeably anxious. I hope that isn't me."

"Oh, no! It has nothing to do with meeting back up with you, Lucario." She blushed. "In fact, I might be nervous around you for other reasons. My mind's just preoccupied with losing my job…but that's none of your concern."

"Why would you lose your job?" asked Lucario. He was as concerned as he would be with any stranger. And he liked Kelly already; he needed to know immediately in case he could help in any way.

"This story I'm working on with you guys…I don't want to give it to my paper at home. It would stoke rivalries and competition in my profession past repair, and I'm afraid all media wouldn't be as focused on aiding reconstruction as they should. I want to release it independently, so no one else interferes with what I know is true."

"Isn't that assuming we're all telling the truth or completely understand what happened?"

"Well, first off, I believe in all of you more so than any corporation I've screwed or colleagues I've worked with over the years. There's something instantly attractive about all of you together, checking each other and making sure you always do the right thing."

"Consider us all flattered."

"And also you don't yet know how good of a writer I am." Kelly smiled her sly reporter grin. It was Lucario's turn to blush in the face of excellence. "I don't intend on being speculative at all. I'm here to report what you all say happened on your mission…and uncover the truth behind Adam's unfortunate circumstances."

"Well…" Lucario thought. "With those ideals and ethics, you could become our personal journalist. You could let the universe know about what we do. We have nothing to hide, and while I don't know Fox too well, I think we've found someone we could all trust to build an even more positive and open relationship with the galaxy."

Kelly knew a Lucario was a beautiful creature, but she had no idea one could be so eloquently spoken. And she could barely wrap her mind around his proposition to boot. That would be a dream come true for her. And she would be close to him all the time.

"That…that would be amazing" was all Kelly could stutter before she fainted into Lucario's quick arms. It had been too much for her at once, and in retrospect, Lucario thought he should have sensed her emotional fatigue earlier.

The Cornerian vixen who had always envisioned working with the truest heroes in the universe lay in the palms of her Lucario. Those mitts were throbbing with nerves and aura energy. She would be fine, he thought. He would take care of her.

"Hurry up, Slowpoke!" yelled Adam's father to his son from a few rooftops away. The Spagonia capital still was not aware speedy hedgehogs called its buildings a suitable playground.

"I'm coming!" giggled Adam as he tripped on a small chimney and sprang back up off of an awning. Maybe his bare feet were tripping him up, but he preferred it that way. Besides, if he were to transform right that moment, he at least not have to worry about busting through another pair of shoes.

Father and son continued their romp through the city until there was little left undiscovered by the pair. As cliché as it sounded, especially considering who he surrounded himself with, Adam felt an indescribable freedom while running. And while he was by no means competing with the fastest lifeforms in the galaxy, he enjoyed it just the same. He was about to thank his father for that when another proposition for a field trip was brought up by his dad.

"There are far cooler, more open spaces to run in than this, son. I think your growing too big for civilized places can be a great excuse to go explore the world. Want me to take you there?"

Adam had no clue where 'there' was, but he was always willing to try something new.

"Yeah, of course!" he yelled, enthused. The boy wanted nothing more than to spend time running with his dad. If being controlled to kill millions was the absolute worst of it, then pushing his limits with Shadow was the best.

"Chaos control!"

Shadow took his son to the shimmering, white beauty of the ice caps of Holoska. And it was cold. They had better get running.

The way the sun gleamed off the soft ice mesh beneath their feet as they passed along was incredibly mesmerizing to Adam. He was young and had still so much more of the natural wonders to experience.

In actuality, he and his father were separated by sixty-some odd years. Not only in their running, but in everything they did together, they felt like kindred spirits, father and son, who could not be closer together in any sense of the word.

The soft pads of Adam's feet had not yet been ravaged by harsher transformations and the tough terrain of his future; the glistening ice was like a caress from his planet, making up for the terrible tragedy that had come to him from another.

Now, his dad was slowing down to run behind him in the cool winds. To encourage him, perhaps? No. Once Adam realized what was happening, he was beyond thrilled. Shadow came up behind his son in a boost of speed and fun-inspired energy for once. He grabbed Adam along and bounded up and through the natural ice loop in front of them. Gravity faded away, and Adam's excited cheering was snuffed out by the air that took his breath away as he left his mouth open too long in these temperatures and at the intense speed they were going. Shadow and Adam ran together, side by side, coming off the steep ramp. Worries and tragedies were forgotten then as father and son continued to bound through the ice caverns and alcoves for the day. They had deserved it.

Back in Spagonia, Adam was enthusiastically telling his mother all the cool things he had done with dad. Tikal could not be happier at the change of pace in their lives, however brief that change was going to be.

This influential family was not going to escape the night without a reminder of their son's problem. It was going to be their biggest reminder yet too. Without warning, Adam began to grow and doubled in size in seconds. He fell forward and flipped a table into the air. His parents were quick enough to react, warping themselves into a far-off desert to avoid further damage.

In the arid sands and air of Shamar, Adam could stand again. All the while, Shadow and Tikal looked up to their son as the latent evil transformed a small child into a possible weapon. Adam was getting more used to this new form, he had to admit but did not want to. Every time culminating with this moment though, he became bigger and bigger. He felt like he would eventually be able to control his size, but now was not that time.

Unwilling lifeform he was, Adam felt Majora's ghost and the ravage infection of the Desbrachian that had awoken after the man he was named after had died surge within him. Stories taller than the highest peaks of Empire City, Adam did not move in his shock. His feet were broad enough to flatten acres of plantation, and his hands were so large they could hold entire colonies of people and the earth below inside, stocked with supplies for a living for years.

Crying was awkward too as he knew he was producing a flood below him. The startled, gentle and innocent boy could not even see his parents until they were right in front of him, standing on the tip of his long, black nose. Shadow and Tikal looked at their boy, so sad and mistreated in a world that barely knew him yet. And still, with those two immortal beings standing hand in hand ready to comfort their goliath of a creation, they could not help but simultaneously wonder what positive impact Adam would have on the universe.

In terms of a pure heart, Shadow now thought his son to be the ultimate lifeform. It was a thought that raced through his mind quickly before it was pushed aside by Adam's immense and comforting voice.

"Thanks for staying with me," he said with pitiful resignation. A giant who was more powerful than anyone on his planet held more sorrow in his young heart than most did in their whole lives.

Shadow and Tikal answered with unconditional love. They were, of course, too small to be heard by the leviathan with the perfect soul before them.

"I love you both," Adam said. "I promise I won't let this be a burden. It is my duty to the galaxy to guide these transformations in me to help all the worlds and lives that Majora ruined. I'm just glad that I have the support of you and the greatest heroes in the universe to help me be strong to do that."

And with that, unexpected wisdom of the highest order poured forth from the giant Adam. The universe would soon know the promise that was made that day in the unforgiving sands that inspired a new god.

Meanwhile, Nintendo had seven months of merciful time left from Tabuu to repeat the past and make possible the future where gods were replaced a reality.

And the freshest past mission was still on the minds of heroes too when Fox McCloud returned from the desolation of Corneria only to find further crises ahead. The astral plain had spilt over with its outrealms onto the continents of Trinity, and vengeful evils were plotting schemes that the heroes were not yet ready to handle. The tests for the heroes from the heavens became harder yet. They would need to summon all of their power to get through it.


	3. Chapter II: Mew's Creation

_Chapter II – Mew's Creation_

"Who am I?"

Countdown was not slowing for the Nintendo heroes in the skies and space above and beyond the world of Pokémon. Even so, Mewtwo meditated in silence and loneliness, for he had no obligations to return to the past.

The philosophical creature had often wondered why he existed. He knew of course how he had come into being and through what human avarice he was born and wrought into a cruel world. Mewtwo thought bigger than this. He wondered why the great cosmos, the delicate, intricate fabric of the universe, allowed him to be. He certainly was not normal, and no matter where he stayed, Mewtwo felt unnatural.

His partner Mew thought this grand to have kin so powerful, caring and intelligent. It only increased their capacity for good and to spread miracles throughout the lands of humans and Pokémon.

Weary from bringing relief to the lands on the planet that had been decimated by Majora's Perfect Chaos, Mew and Mewtwo took their break in the Valley of Life. It was the place with shimmering waters, lush forests and a majestic mountain where Mew had often spent most of her time. Mewtwo remembered thinking of it as he was born in a scientist's test tube. As he floated above the sacred lands filled with Pokémon now, the legendary felt such a rift between his old self chasing the fleeting image of paradise and the present version of himself doing his part in saving the world.

Mewtwo wondered what the team of Giovanni's scientists would have thought of him in the present if he had left them alive. He was surely different. Nevertheless, he could not help from drifting back into his memories of his creation. Regardless of how much he had evolved since, the man-made Pokémon did this often.

 **The fossil had been found. The experiment was finished. The vessel for infinite power, the first synthetic Pokémon, rested in the test tube before the band of intellectuals. Cloning Mew after the famous expedition seemed to have produced results. The manipulators were waiting for success.**

 **"** **Who am I?"**

 **No answer.**

 **"** **What am I?"**

 **The Pokémon opened his eyes to see his creators for the first time.**

 **"** **Where am I?"**

 **The unrelenting looks of satisfaction on his creators' faces were haunting behind the sheen of sickly, bubbling liquid Mewtwo was encased in. The shadows of Dr. Fuji's ambition and his daughter Amber's gentle nature haunted Mewtwo subconsciously. He could not remember anything; feelings of loss and loneliness had no paired memories.**

 **"** **This…this is not the same. Was everything before just a dream? Why?"**

 **Hours later, the scientists had thought they had stumbled upon another significant discovery in the creature. Its brainwaves were off the charts. Its mind was racing.**

 **"** **Those voices," said Mewtwo to himself. "They're outside…where I must be."**

 **With a crash, the Pokémon had freed himself from captivity. Glass and wires were strewn across the floor stained with the orange liquid of Mewtwo's birth. The intellectuals wanted to learn from his newfound and realized psychic powers.**

 **"** **So, I am simply the end result of your experiment?" questioned Mewtwo after learning about the original Mew, the cloning process and the copy that he was.**

 **"** **What becomes of me now that your experiment is over?"**

 **Now the serious testing begins. What would that entail?**

 **"** **These humans…they care nothing for me. Is that my purpose? Am I just an experiment? A laboratory specimen? This cannot be my destiny."**

 **Explosions followed one after the other as Mewtwo glanced at the science of his imprisonment to make it blow. Fires raged from the technology that had birthed him, and that fire now consumed the team that had so foolishly created a sentient being for the hopes of keeping it contained and in check. Mewtwo scoffed at their greedy, scholarly ambitions as his psychic power shielded him from the destruction he had caused.**

 **"** **We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon…" muttered Dr. Fuji dying on the floor.**

 **The first psystrike began to emanate from Mewtwo. The whole island was about to go up in flames.**

 **"…** **And we succeeded."**

 **In the wreckage that followed, Team Rocket leader Giovanni landed. He promised Mewtwo a way to augment and control his powers. The new metal skin was just another means of containing the man-made Pokémon.**

 **Mewtwo found no purpose in battling trainers and their Pokémon. They were all too pathetic to pose any threat to him anyway. Days later, Mewtwo hated hearing that he was created to obey the whims of the petty creatures who had made him. Giovanni would not be strong enough to control him now.**

 **"** **Humans may have created me, but they will never enslave me. This cannot be my destiny! I was not born a Pokémon; I was created. And my creators have used and betrayed me. So, I stand alone!"**

 **Giovanni's plans for world domination crumbling before him, an awesome scene of destruction shot into space while Mewtwo flew to an escape. He stood once more on the island where he had been created.**

 **"** **Who am I? What is my true reason for being? I will find my own purpose and purge this planet of all who oppose me: human and Pokémon alike. The world will heed my warning. The reign of Mewtwo will soon begin."**

He had changed completely since then. After the sacrifice of trainers and Pokémon alike, he had finally been able to see true compassion and sympathy. He now saw the majestic mountain that stood before him. That same one that had always eluded him in his dreams was now a vision in reality as copy levitated alongside the original.

Mew playfully bumped into her friend, and Mewtwo was altogether done sulking in remembrance for the day. Good to be alert now, the two Pokémon saw something odd shooting through the sky and coming their way. Silver spikes crashed into the earth.

"Seriously though, how can I have all of this greatness going for me at my age?!"

The responder looked at the blue fox as if he should already know the answer, but Marcus was still reeling from the gradual realization of how good his life was at the moment.

Fox's son continued, "For us to have graduated from the academy at the top of our class, gotten married and then become official members of Star Fox at the age of eighteen is insane. Come on, I know you'd agree."

Marcus's wife, a red fox formerly known as Katrina Nova before taking his surname, answered, "Well, I know you could just read my thoughts to find out for sure. But yes, it is pretty awesome. I never would have imagined all of this happening so fast. However, I came to terms with it months ago when it all happened. I thought we've been celebrating life ever since, Marcus. Where have you been, you goofball?"

"I guess life was just moving so fast last summer for me to really realize everything that was happening."

"And it's not going by fast now?!"

"Yeah, I guess it is," summed up Marcus. "But it's a different kind of fast. Now the world is ending…so stuff outside of our little personal world is revolving at incredible speeds, right, but things between us and who we love have sort of stayed the same…if that makes sense."

"It does; I can see the point of view," answered Katrina. "We really live in a world of extremes, don't we? Either the universe is going to shatter all around us or everyone is happy: getting married, having kids, moving on to that next chapter in life."

"And for us in this crazy place, both extremes happen at the same time. Simply amazing."

Katrina responded, "Indeed, my sweet Marcus. That is the best way to look at it."

"Well, you know me more than anyone. For me, the best way to look at something is the only way. For example, we're going to meet dad, and while I assume it's for a dangerous assignment or some mission that might put our lives at risk, I'm just glad to speak with the old fox hahaha."

"Your relentless optimism just never wavers…something's wrong with you. And you sure like to sneak in saying your father's name. I guess it's pretty easy to do…"

"Hey, it's not my fault my grandfather named him after an entire species. He probably did it so his future grandson could exploit the name. And one more thing…of course there's something wrong with me!"

Katrina just looked at him as they walked toward the pillar's command center.

"Why else would you have married me, vixen, if that hadn't been the case?"

She had stopped wanting to encourage his overly cheery mood at this point, but Katrina could not help but laughing at the silly grin her husband of six months was wearing. Some had called them stupid for pledging eternal love so young, but both Marcus and Katrina had always known they had found their soulmate when they had been even younger, both just simple pups and cadets in the Cornerian Academy. Fully equipped now with the skills and galaxy experience necessary to leap into adult life as mercenaries and heroes, the foxes had figured they would do it all as lovers too.

Link and Midna were lucky no one could see them in their private quarters. The wolf was having way too much fun having his partner scratch his belly with her ancestors' magic.

They were certainly comfortable around each other. It was as if, in the time that passed when they had thought they would never see each other again, they had softened emotionally to prepare for the fun times they were to have after the miracle reunion. Or maybe it was just that now they were not spending their time together with Hyrule on their shoulders. That had been their existence when they had met before. Every waking moment was spent saving the land back then. Now, they had the opportunities to better get to know each other.

For instance, Midna had learned about Link's greatest desire to see all his world had to offer. He would often adventure to far-off places and soak up the new sights by laying out on the ground. These excursions mainly took place after having slain Ganondorf and before joining Nintendo. Link had an appreciation for silence, but Midna brought out a primal rambunctious side in him.

In Midna's time ruling the Twilight Realm, she had reformed the ways of her people and had them focus more on future prosperity instead of ancient tradition. She was almost unanimously popular as a ruler, and Link was now finding out just how much she really enjoyed being around people. As an imp in his shadow, he had never known how outgoing she really was. Yet, there had always been something about the imp that rode upon him that made his heart go aflutter.

They were truly smitten with each other, and that love was made mostly private. When they were around each other, it was difficult to maintain the stoic hero and princess exteriors everyone expected from them. They had recently let a few friends see them with their guards dropped, and most had agreed seeing them together made them individually stronger. As the human form of Link and taller impish version of Midna sprawled out on their bed, they sure looked like they could take on anything while in love.

"When I left…" Midna began, "I remember you gasping aloud when the mirror was breaking. That was…in retrospect, a terrible thing for me to do. And the way you acted broke my heart. I should have believed you loved me too…I mean, we're making it work now, so what was I thinking…?"

"I understand what you did. You didn't want our worlds to hurt each other's anymore," said Link. "You thought about the repercussions of that day as a ruler of your people and not…someone in love. What I don't understand…"

Link paused. He relished in the silence of his thoughts. He was not used to talking so blatantly about his emotions. But, he did feel comfortable completely around Midna.

"…is that you did not think I loved you too. You're all I thought off every day on horseback after you left. Every new mountain or lake I came across in my travels, I would sit and look out at those views and wish you were at my side enjoying them as well. And during the twilight hours, I would just sit and think about the days we spent adventuring and growing together. You occupied every wandering thought of mine…"

"Link…I…somehow, I don't know what to say around you when faced with you and my feelings." The interactions had turned from playful to somber in their mutual love. They had missed out on time together, so spending every moment with each other was making up for time they could not have back.

Midna touched her hand to Link's face gently and spoke: "I always thought Zelda or that Ilia girl from your hometown would be for you. I thought to myself, 'how could he love me?' We were friends but not more back then."

"We were everything for each other back then," answered Link. "How could I not grow to love you the way you did me? We saved each other's lives, saved the world as a pair and helped Hyrule and each other through so much. Those are memories that will always be with us; time spent with you, even as a wolf…" Link chuckled, "was the most important set of moments in my life. …I'm just glad that now we get to make more of those forever."

Midna let a tear trickle down her face and silently scolded herself for letting it happen. All Link did was wipe it away with one finger while smiling. Even if she let her guard down entirely, Link was there just as kind and honest as always. Their bond was almost indescribable.

"Look at us: total saps, right, hee eee? Oh, chosen hero, I'll never hide it again: I love you without end!"

She kissed him ferociously and would not stop. They embraced each other leaving Link little time to speak before they made love that crossed though the realms of light and shadow.

"Twilight Princess, I love you more than anything."

Their titular monikers given to them by the goddesses and followers had become their pet names for each other. All seemed right in their world together. They were just one example of how love blossomed like never before between heroes while the world was nearing its end in just seven months.

And with a convergence of space-time on top of it all, the heroes of Hyrule and their lovers and friends had a lot to do in the coming days, weeks and months. Link of the Twilight Era was about to meet others with his spirit throughout time and space tomorrow. He was excited for it. The peak of that enthusiasm for the journey was that he could take Midna with him and let her see all the spectacles of the land with him like he wished he could have in their time lost. But now, much as the intermingling fates of the timelines of Hyrule, their lives were inseparable.

Bowser grunted awake. He had had a pleasant rest and a splendid dream. In it, he was waltzing with Rosalina, princess of the cosmos, without a care. His children were near them both; the Koopalings were playing with and teasing each other like usual. Junior was working hard on a new clown car. It was for recreation in the next Mario Kart tournament. All of this in the dream, it had seemed like a stagnant pool of eternal happiness. Waking up now for the koopa king was not much different.

After the skirmish between his troops and airships and her intergalactic magic, Bowser had lost and had never been so glad to have failed. Instead of warping the villain into the plasma of the nearest star, Rosalina had instead warped the throes of goombas, koopa troopas and hammer brothers back home to safety in the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser had been a different case. He, in particular, had been badly beaten: his shell was cracked, his thick hide black and blue. She had had the Lumas lovingly take care of the unconscious mass of villainy until he had recovered completely. Now nearly a month later, Bowser found himself sleeping within the purple sheets of the bedroom he had been mended back together in after the battle. In the enchanting comfort of the Comet Observatory, Bowser no longer manifested a desire to kidnap the princess, mother of Junior, or rule over the world for his greedy ends to satiate his ego trip that had lasted decades until now. It was not just the calmness of space that had eased the king's soul….

 _Bowser was in love with his savior. He could not believe he had fallen in love, and in such a short amount of time too. Heck, he barely ever got to see Rosalina for more than a few moments scattered throughout his few waking bits during recovery. Still, she was always radiant and caring. She was a princess too. Soon, all thoughts of Princess Peach or his other ex began to drift away._

 _"_ _Is that enough apricot tea, sir koopa?" asked a round, yellow Luma cheerfully._

 _"_ _It is…um, thank you, little…star." Bowser was still not used to talking to the floating babies all around him. Even though they had taken care of him for a week, the koopa was still unsure how he should interact with the specks whom he had endangered so many years ago._

 _He especially did not want to put a single scaled toe out of line. Once he was well enough to climb out of bed (which would be soon), he wanted to start impressing Rosalina with a new leaf that her improbable love would make reality._

 _Days continued to pass on, and after three more, the big guy was finally able to stretch and walk…and really not do much else. He was still sore from whatever hit him when he had clashed with Rosalina and her magic. He was feeling it. He also wondered if someone who had just attacked him to protect her home kingdom would even be willing to talk with a giant monster, let alone reciprocate feelings._

 _Bowser was lost in these thoughts as he wandered around the observatory. It was as big as one of his smaller castles but instead, this place was open and freeing, not claustrophobic and depressing. His ideas for a new life seemed to float from space into his head, which could breathe a lot easier now in the serenity of the cosmos. Was this place and this woman making the former evil king soft? Maybe too soft, thought Bowser often._

 _It was during one of these chronic strolls when the ruler of the observatory herself met with Bowser, surprising him when she came near. Bowser felt his throat become dry and his hands tremble. If only he was as fearsome on the inside as he was on the outside, Bowser thought to himself, he might not lose so darn often._

 _"_ _Glad to see you're doing well these past few days." Rosalina started the conversation._

 _Bowser did not know what to say. Thank you for giving me these injuries and then taking them away? He knew he had deserved the former though, and as vicious as he was sometimes, the koopa knew full-well that he had not deserved the latter. Especially not from a bystander who leapt into action and had never wronged him or his family before._

 _After thinking on it for a few moments, with Rosalina waiting patiently for a reply, Bowser said, "It's all thanks to you and your stars…so, uh…thank you."_

 _"_ _You are very welcome. Those stars are my children in a sense, and I'm happy to hear they've taken good care of you. Hospitality toward an enemy will help achieve peace in the universe. I'm glad they understand that as much as I do."_

 _"_ _That's, um…" muttered Bowser. He had not had a conversation with a human in such a long while. And to hear such sound thoughts coming from one was a very nice change of pace. "You are very wise," said the koopa eventually. He still thought it a little crazy that she considered stars her children. That had made him hesitate a little more before answering. He decided against questioning it though. He certainly understood loving children._

 _"_ _Hmhm, thank you. …This is almost nice, Bowser. I much prefer talking over fighting."_

 _Bowser was a little offended. "Almost nice?" He had not done anything wrong yet, he thought._

 _"_ _Sorry, this IS nice. It's just…I also know who I'm talking to."_

 _Bowser put his head down in shame. With so few words, Rosalina had managed to put all of his wrongdoings in his face at once. And it was even worse and sadder because he still felt like he loved her. His respect for her was growing too. Had he really waged intergalactic war against such a fair maiden and her children all those years ago?_

 _Rosalina broke the silence. "I can never look past someone in need. You were badly hurt, Bowser. As in…on the edge of death, actually."_

 _The koopa had a look of surprise on his face now. He knew how difficult he was to kill._

 _"_ _So of course, we took you in and mended you back to, what I hope to be soon, full health," continued Rosalina. "But I cannot lie either."_

 _Bowser looked up. He spoke quickly now: "It pained you to have your children, those stars you care so much for…take care of me, right? After all the evil I've ever done. I can't blame you…even though the old me would set this place of peace ablaze right now."_

 _"_ _That wasn't what I was going to say. If you had let me finish, you would have heard me say that my hidden motive was one of good intentions, not silent disgust at you or the past."_

 _"_ _Urh, ah, sorry," muttered the self-loathing koopa. He had never felt so bad about who he was ever. Why did this mysterious, lovely woman have the power to make him feel so deeply?_

 _"_ _I wanted to extend an unbiased kindness to you…because I wanted to see if I and my children could inspire a change in character. There is the potential for good in every living creature in the universe. This much I know. I wanted to see if we could make that good happen inside you for the betterment of your world…and the betterment of you."_

 _Rosalina had smiled upon saying the last part. Bowser sniffed a tear away on the side of his mug she could not see. Her soothing voice was having its stirring, melancholic effect on him._

 _"_ _If you decide to give up on your conquest of the Mushroom Kingdom and that squabble with the mother of your child, then there will have been another wonderful reason for having taken care of you here. If not, then at least I affected your life in some way…for the better I'm hoping…"_

 _Bowser turned to see Rosalina head-on. The princess of the stars did not even flinch. The koopa was just now realizing how tall she was. She came up to his chin._

 _"…_ _And believing," finished Rosalina._

 _Bowser could not keep his emotions in anymore. He would give up being evil for her, perhaps even if she declined him and respected his feelings all the same. The koopa king had never been one for subtlety anyway._

 _He wanted to roar it aloud, but he kept the confession at a whisper._

 _"_ _I LOVE YOU," said Bowser with a soft intensity. He did not care how taken aback she would be or how the rudely blunt confession could hurt his chances._

 _But Rosalina just stood there calmly with hair covering half of her face. In her stoic manner, she let out a sigh. This could not be good._

 _Bowser's expectations for rejection were all he could think of before Rosalina replied, so when she finally did, he was pleasantly surprised._

 _"_ _Yes…I thought as much," said Rosalina. "A koopa as large and blunt as you are is not very good at hiding these feelings."_

 _"_ _So, ugh…you already knew?"_

 _"_ _I had my suspicions," confirmed Rosalina. "Even though I should hate you, I can't help but feel flattered. However, that doesn't mean I reciprocate the same intensity you feel. …But, I do wish to get to know you better, to ease the tempest of inner conflict that rages in your heart. Yes, you're not good at hiding that either."_

 _Bowser was at a loss for words. She seemed to know exactly how he was feeling._

 _"_ _I know your kids have joined with your former enemies and turned over a new leaf. It is obvious that part of you wants to join them too, but there is this…more monstrous, immensely powerful part that just refuses to let go the conquests of old and the trespasses done against you or your people. You are unable to forgive, and thus, you cannot forgive yourself for the evil you've done. So, ask yourself this, Koopa King: how are you supposed to change alongside your family if you refuse to let go the things that are keeping you the same?"_

 _If Mario or even Peach had said these things, Bowser could have easily imagined himself raging against the notion such words poised, but with Rosalina saying them, all the koopa could do was think about this change. Was it possible to change almost everything he was so late in life?_

 _"_ _You are probably right," muttered Bowser. "But I don't know if I can make this huge change by myself. I'm too out-of-control to make sure I'll do what you say…"_

 _Bowser was about to boldly ask for the same thing Rosalina was thinking of now, and hearing her say it instead filled the spiked menace with fuzzies all throughout his body._

 _"_ _Maybe you just need someone in your life to work with you and keep you strong," said Rosalina. "As a parent myself, I know, more than anything, even your most likely misguided feelings for me, you need to get back to your children."_

 _Bowser knew she was right, and from thereon out, he focused on becoming good for the sake of his heir and seven Koopalings. Rosalina helped Bowser manage his anger and come to terms with his failures, losses and regrets that plagued his mind and continued to push him toward ill pursuits. It was a difficult period of a couple weeks; the time was not without its outbursts and frustrations, but through it all, Rosalina was steadfast and true in her support for Bowser. By the end of the self-actualization for the koopa, she felt like she was friends with him. Bowser felt more indebted to her than ever._

 _The princess of the cosmos did not owe anything to the koopa king until two thirds of Countdown remained, and even then, it was questionable if she really did. Sorcerer Kamek unexpectedly raided the observatory one night and powered down the facility with his magic. The lumas had been unprepared for the assault; scores of Bowser's airships raided the place in retaliation for the defeat weeks before. Kamek had suspected the observatory had taken Bowser prisoner, and it had taken a while to assemble a means of taking the hulk on where it had previously decimated a smaller fleet with Bowser in it._

 _But now the koopa was on the other side entirely, and he woke up frustrated to find that his right-hand wizard was still following orders from the old him. He did not want to harm his troops or Kamek, but he also knew the baby stars were in danger too. The koopa hurried over to the armada's leader with the echoes from Bowser's fleet footsteps thundering throughout the observatory. He yelled out at Kamek with the same ferocity he could have spent with his fire breath on the wooden hulls of the ships. He wanted to keep everyone safe._

 _"_ _Kamek! I'm fine. Stop attacking! There's no need for it. These stars are peaceful and won't harm you if you don't hurt them!"_

 _"_ _Master Bowser! I'm glad to see you okay, but kidnapping you is no excuse for giving them mercy now. Troops, follow through!"_

 _The goombas, koopas, bob-ombs and boos were in a frenzy trying to figure out who to follow. Normally, they would follow their king without question, but they had also never been following orders from someone else for so long. There was some fighting and conflicted actions from the fray before most of the action stopped._

 _Bowser let out a humongous roar in his anger: "STAND DOWN, MEN!"_

 _The fact that he had indirectly caused he injured lumas' tears was ruining him, and now, his men just had to listen to him. No troops who ever angered the king got off with a lax punishment._

 _The army listened to their master despite Kamek's meddling, but the wizard remained a soldier who would not stop fighting. He had already changed his evil methods into something crueler; wherein, he transformed Ludwig into a monstrous behemoth in Rogueport to suit his own desires for domination and eventually the usurping of power from Bowser. The king knew nothing of Ludwig's unfortunate situation nor these new ambitions from his elderly retainer, and that was why it was even more shocking for him to see Kamek risk everything and duel Rosalina with his magic._

 _"_ _Since you took our king away from us, I'll take the image of a mother away from these stars!" said Kamek with cunning. No one expected what he had up his blue cloak sleeve._

 _Rosalina could barely let out a scream before she was disarmed and transformed by Kamek's superior, more evil magic. The princess felt herself growing larger and more grotesque; her skin began to crawl and yellow._

 _Bowser could not reach the two, so he managed to spew fire at the floating interloper. Kamek's cloak caught ablaze, and he came crashing down to the fountain exterior. Koopatrol units were already cuffing the koopa before Bowser even had to order them too. He was too preoccupied with climbing up the observatory to reach his beloved. She looked like she was in some terrible pain._

 _What Bowser saw when he reached the top spire took his breath away. He had not expected that. What he had expected was for Kamek to have transformed her into a horrendous beast. What lay before him was a fetching koopa combined with the amazon nature of the space woman herself._

 _"_ _What?" spit out Rosalina. "Do I look terribly ugly? I don't want to look so terrible to have the lumas rather be without a mother…"_

 _"_ _Wow," grunted Bowser. "If that was Kamek's goal, he did a horrible job at it. He wasn't always the best at magic; he only ever really made simple shapes or some things grow, but this!" The smitten koopa gestured at Rosalina's new body. "This is his greatest work if you don't mind me saying. You look serene…gorgeous…but still amazingly peaceful somehow. You won't have to worry about your children; they'd love you no matter what, and anyone would love this and the old you."_

 _Kamek was being taken away onto one of the airships, but through his glasses, he could see the proud, well-endowed koopa amazon he had created. The old wizard blushed and cursed at the same time before he was ushered out. It was time for the rest of the fleet to follow suit._

 _"_ _Koopas!" Bowser roared from the top of the observatory. "Men! Followers! It is time for all of you to leave. If you do serve under me once more, someday, which is a day that might not come to pass by the way…if that time comes, then you will serve for good and not evil. The official state of our way of life as an army is now a way of peace. Not evil. Now, leave and know that I will be more than happy where I am now!"_

 _His army listened without confusion this time. Rosalina just stood and looked at her friend who had saved her family. Her blonde hair still draped over her right eye, but now that lovely hair laid upon her face in curls. Now, it certainly seemed that her way of peace had rubbed off on Bowser along with some of her eloquence and vocabulary too._

 _"_ _Bowser, I think I'm almost at a loss for words after all of this…." said Rosalina. "Thank you so much for saving us…and saying those things to your troops. Just by that action alone, you have changed the world so much for the better."_

 _The princess of the cosmos bowed her head slightly in thanks._

 _Bowser just grunted. "Hey, for once, I can say 'it's my pleasure' after doing something good. Because of you, I did this for me too."_

Bowser was still lying awake in his bed aboard the observatory as he thought about all the events that had come to pass that had changed his life completely. Now, he was a koopa of a new leaf: ready to work together with anyone to achieve peace in the galaxy. With Tabuu and more persistent evils around, Bowser needed to suck it up anyway. That was the new sentiment Rosalina had helped instill in him. But almost more important than his change of heart, he had fallen in love, and after a while and a lot of work, it had been reciprocated. The koopa looked over to the figure of a shapely koopa princess that rested beside him. She was still asleep.

Bowser could hear that the lumas were up and about, so he prodded his princess gently. Rosalina woke up with a yawn and large stretch. Her crystal blue eyes looked into the fiery red ones of her partner, and they celebrated a day anew with a kiss.

"You're looking handsome as always," blushed Rosalina.

"Thanks…urgh, I guess it's a waste of breath for me to tell you how gorgeous you are, both what you are now and normal you of course."

"You are such a softie now." Rosalina openly laughed.

"You've only known me for a little while," reminded Bowser. "Maybe I've always been a softie. You just unleashed it."

"And you've finally provided someone I can lean on," said Rosalina as she transformed with her magic to human form like usual. "I've been alone ever since I embraced the cosmos and lost my family back home. I've always been afraid to make it sound like I don't appreciate these star children…but they grow up so fast. And you…Bowser…"

Bowser let her finish. Rosalina kept gushing about how she enjoyed having someone matured and understanding in her life. Ever since their relationship started, Rosalina began letting down her guard and talking about everything she had been bottling up for centuries.

"…You're already grown up. And I can keep you too." Rosalina thought carefully about the wording of what she was going to say next. "I never imagined I would be with someone like you…" She took a pause as she sighed out of joy. "…but I couldn't be happier with how the fates have aligned for us."

Bowser's soft face said everything caring he ever could, so instead, he responded with: "You really do talk a lot!" and kissed the real her passionately.

The unlikely couple were excited for the future. They were in love and were ready to face any obstacle together. Rosalina had decided to steer the observatory off course for one year in order to help Nintendo save the universe from extinction. They could have helped any planet's governments and armies, but Bowser's princess knew there was only one option. Bowser desperately wanted to make amends with his kids and show them he changed. He knew the best way of doing that was going to be joining up with the group his kids had all sworn allegiance to.

Through extension, Bowser was going to be on Mario's side once more. But at least now, he had his princess. Rosalina and his eight kids were all that mattered to him now, and because of the woman who had set him free, the koopa king never needed reminded.

A crazed ball of spikes long forgotten, Dr. Eggman's Silver Sonic barreled into Mewtwo's abdomen with ferocity unmatched since the machine's duel with Sonic aboard the Death Egg years earlier. A psychic shield protected the nimble Pokémon with his incredible reaction time. Being of this world and seeing this unfamiliar foe, neither Mew nor her counterpart wondered who or what sent this contraption to battle.

It was a battle quickly dismissed once Mewtwo gained his bearings at least. The metal ball of spines was fast and got a few hits in, but the living combatant soon tired of the fight and ripped it apart from the inside with his psychic power. Mewtwo knew very little of Dr. Eggman, true, but he still had questions now. Who had sent this death trap to their secluded door, and if someone had indeed picked them as targets, what were they trying to accomplish?

Mew looked kindly into her friend's face as he pondered these questions. The floating feline-featured original was worried about their home, and her demure countenance made that apparent as Mewtwo acknowledged the fear and worry, silently reciprocating it himself. They needed to stay, but they also needed to leave. Nintendo's minds would be the most apt at solving this mystery.

As the pair took one final glance around them at the majesty of their mountain home, their thoughts drifted from the minuscule threat the Silver Sonic had posed to the foreboding feeling an earlier presence had cast over the springs and glades of the land. Mew and Mewtwo thought back a few weeks earlier to when Giygas, with his unsettling resemblance to the clone, still lingering in Mewtwo's head, stalked the sky, practically begging for action. Mewtwo had given chase with shadow balls and heavy attacks. The alien had merely took the brunt of the force behind its own psychic shield, and without warning after its beating, disappeared without a trace.

The origin of life and the friendly man-made accomplishment that hovered beside Mew both felt the pang of loss. They hoped nothing else would spoil the nature, so pure and beautiful, of their world while they were gone. With a crazed machination left over from a doctor's insanity and an old evil not even the most powerful of Pokémon could pursue, the Mew family felt threatened on more than one end. There were multiple, separate forces that wanted to taint the final year of the universe.

E-123 Omega strode out into the meeting hall. McCloud had summoned the robot for a mission, and if Eggman's greatest creation of the E series was being called, it knew some brutal action was expected.

Marcus soon dispelled that idea, at least for now: "Actually, big guy, we're doing reconnaissance on the planet Zoness of the Lylat System. We with flesh and bone can't really dive into that toxic sea to check things out for ourselves, you know?"

It was impossible to see if Omega was pleased or disappointed with this change of assignment in his mind. Most still doubted if he even had those feelings or honestly any potential to feel something past a desire to destroy what would stand against them.

"Affirmative," was Omega's answer. Katrina and Fox laughed at the head of the table. As accidentally funny as the android could be, all foxes still counted themselves lucky that the red and black behemoth was on their side.

Unexpectedly for the younger pups, a much larger powerhouse made his presence known in the chamber. Bowser's wide belly and chair-sized feet were having trouble squeezing through the tables to his new leader, but he did make his way to Fox without too much rubble and commotion.

"Fox, I…want to thank you again for letting me join the team," said Bowser. "Maybe I can prove my worth as a king by being a minion for a while."

Katrina and Marcus looked at each other in disbelief in this moment. Not only were they about to head out on their first substantial Nintendo mission together, but also the great koopa king was in some way going to be a part of it! In the backs of their minds, their feelings were mixed, but the cheerfully surprised looks on their cobalt and maroon muzzles betrayed any honest skepticism or dread. Besides, Marcus wanted to believe anyone could change from immoral ways to an honorable path.

"King Koopa, please, don't think of yourself like that," said Fox. "We're happy to have you aboard as part of this initiative to take down something that threatens us all, even you…if you were still not on our side. That being said, I'm doubly proud to have you on board compared to how you feel to be a part of us now. That, I can assure you."

"I can see why you're the leader of this motley crew…. Hopefully I can pick up a few tricks to take back to my troops!"

The final briefing was about to proceed without any more surprises. However, when Mew and Mewtwo grazed across the metallic floor with their soft toes, a tingle of anticipation shook through everyone. With concerns of their home now heard and new connections drawn, Fox gathered the heroes together to say what he knew. Some of the brightest minds in villainy had supposedly come together for a new challenge.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Giovanni and Andrew Oikonny were twisted minds, to be sure, but even with their combined efforts in the first stages of maniacal collaboration, they were all silently skeptical about whether their bioweapon initiative could truly be everything they dreamed it to be.

Their work together had started when the Mobian professor had sent out an anonymous encryption onto one of the servers that brilliant minds usually flocked to when their creativity or innovation in their careers began to lack. Eggman, tired of having been defeated again and again by his nemesis and his new overly powerful band of allies, admitted to himself that if he was going to have any chance at universal domination now (and, more importantly, finally killing Sonic and his friends), then he would have to do the same thing is rival had done: team up.

Oikonny had jumped at the chance to solve the puzzle. Ever since his failure in the Anglar War, Andrew had often found himself alone and with nothing to do. He still had a small but dedicated group of followers behind him, but those lizards and monkeys really only pledged allegiance out of remembrance to the sad ape's uncle. The former Star Wolf pilot wanted something more.

Giovanni had been skeptical to answer the message after the anonymous challenge had been beaten. He never wanted to be in the shadow of someone else's work, especially if that work concerned animals or Pokémon. However, ever since the downfall of his corporation and criminal empire after his defeat at the hands of Red and the devastation Mewtwo had caused, Giovanni's life had been swallowed down a pit of obscurity. One faked suicide later, and the world and all other worlds had forgotten about small-time crime boss Giovanni of Team Rocket. The lonely man overcame his skepticism; he had found a way to combat that image.

The three rarely met in person. After their initial briefing, they had found out their personalities clashed completely but that, afterwards in an online chat, their minds blended together perfectly. In a week's time, they were already crafting unique hybrid bioweapons for their schemes. After future months of their irreverent construction of life, they would have a force large enough to oppose Nintendo and stake their claim on the universe while it still lasted. Maybe, they could be the ones to overthrow Tabuu too. And then the worlds would be begging to be run by their new overlords, instead of being subjugated by the mad scientists.

Only time would tell if these men past their prime would have the power to make their ambition, finally, reality.

"From reconnaissance reports we've received from the other E-series robots, we've discovered that Giovanni, formerly of Team Rocket, has set up base on the toxic planet of Zoness. Scans indicate very strange life readings from the poisonous seas, and we assume these changes are due to his presence. To the weathered cliffs of Gabreshan, this is where we're sending the four of you on Zoness."

Fox's quick summary of what was wrong was a welcome mission briefing for the unlikely group getting ready for action. Their main objective was to investigate the supposed sea outpost and interrogate Giovanni. Fox was trusting his son and the others enough to allow them to make the decision of where to go from there. Marcus and Omega were asked to take on the seas while Mewtwo and Bowser would see what, if anything, awaited them along the gray, ashen coastline, and Katrina would monitor the planet's readings from the Great Fox in orbit. If life was being tampered with again, a lot of trouble would be coming their way.

Before the team shoved off, Fox had a word with his son alone.

"Now, Marcus, before I tell you this, I need to let you know I have reason to say this only to you," Fox said with whispered urgency even though they were the only two left in the room.

Marcus was surprised by the manner of business in his father's voice. He was usually not like that. "Um, okay, dad. Is there anything wrong?"

"Yes. That's why I'm telling just you. …We have reason to believe Andrew Oikonny is a part of what's going on. In fact, from what our team has gathered across the web, it looks like we have a team of really bad guys we're going up against?"

"Oh, okay…but why can't the others know about that?"

"That's not exactly the bad part. It's a bit of a distraction from the mission since we don't know for sure, but you can tell the others that much. What worries me, and your mother, is what that old ape might be up to."

"Oh, is this about what you and mom saw on Macbeth a while back?"

"Yes, it is…"

"And how you aren't exactly sure of what you saw in retrospect because of the nightmares you've been having?" continued Marcus.

"Yes…"

"But dad, you know mom was there to see it too! I think it IS safe to assume Andross will be back, and as a future threat. It only makes sense, then, that the nephew could be a part of it!"

"Shh, Marcus, keep your voice down. We're probably all right about that, but, again, I don't want to jump to conclusions. Everyone respects my judgment except on that family of apes. Everyone knows how Andross can mess with my mind. He could've even gotten inside your mother's head. Hell, he's done it before!"

"Dad…I think you're worrying too much about what others might think about you. We all have vulnerabilities. Sometimes…" Marcus hesitated at what he was about to say. "…It could be considered a weakness not sharing those vulnerabilities."

"…" Fox thought hard about what his son had just said. He respected him so much; at such a young age for everything he had ever done, Marcus was always impressing his dad. "I don't know where you get that wisdom from, young fox…probably from Krystal because I'm sure too headstrong to see these things most of the time."

Marcus always liked it when his dad used his mom's name. It let him know he was really serious and caring about something. This was a perfect time. Fox and Marcus were so close and so very alike.

"I understand you worry, dad," said Marcus. "I promise to be on the lookout for Oikonny and anything suspicious that links back to Andross. I won't let you down."

"At this point, my son, I don't know how you could. You never have."

With that, the father and son departed from the unofficial mission briefing. Marcus was excited to meet new friends in living legends he had always heard stories about from his father and childhood friends. Mewtwo was supposed to be one of the most powerful, yet also mysterious lifeforms in the universe. Bowser was a great and evil king gone soft, and Omega, while admittedly not much more than a berserker android, seemed awesome at every sight.

The ride was silent, much to the awkwardness of everyone aboard the box-like Cornerian transport. But Marcus did not mind too much. He was busy piloting, and if there was anything he enjoyed more than meeting new heroes at home, it was flying through the stardust of his galaxy. Everything was prepared, and the heroes' minds rested on their goals. Marcus, Omega, Bowser and Mewtwo touched down on the Zoness surface with their crimson vixen of an angel overseeing them from above.

Andrew Oikonny was having trouble controlling his crew. This new ship had to be in top shape, and the laziness of his men was just not cutting it.

"Get up here, you lazy monkey! You aren't a sloth, but you sure act like one!"

Oikonny's first mate, Matren, hated his boss, but the elongated face of the Andross wannabe was the closest thing this monkey was going to get to working with Venom's former ruler anymore. The first mate ape mostly wished his superior had not been so vain in claiming their new ship. It was a bold thing to say that they deserved the technology of the Eggman to fall in their lap.

These simian forces piloted the Egg Usher, a self-described spin-off of the Egg Carrier line Eggman had been so proud of in the past. The flying monolith was outfitted with concealed artillery on every square inch of the vessel, and Oikonny could even make the entire behemoth turn invisible with an advanced cloaking device.

"This really is the greatest ship I've ever flown!" said Oikonny. He was not going to admit that to his partner. "So we're not going to screw this up, Matren. I've-we've deserved this type of thing for a long time coming now. Let's make ourselves proud!"

The Egg Usher continued to scan its way across the Zoness surface and its toxic, green seas. The hostile environments were already suitable for highly adaptable lifeforms. It was Oikonny's job to find the best of the most fearsome and toughest creatures. The others were already testing and experimenting with the first batch the mad ape and his crew had gathered.

After having said momentary good-byes to Bowser and Mewtwo, who were currently discovering how arid and barren solid ground on Zoness was, Marcus and Omega began their underwater exploits. Marcus flew just above the crests of the waves most of the time, occasionally dipping beneath the sea to scope out anything suspicious. His Arwing would resurface quickly though; Zoness's waters were too corrosive for any permanent visit.

E-123 Omega was made of something tougher. His metal body could withstand harsher conditions, and so he patrolled the sea floor, and with lights attached and vision ready, he spotted the first signs of altered life on the planet. The fox and the robot were efficient together.

"What did you find, Omega?" asked Marcus.

"It seems to be a group of crustaceans oozing a toxic substance," reported Omega. The android took another scan of his underwater environment. "Scans do indicate that these lifeforms were transported here yesterday. There are no old signs of these creatures living in this particular habitat. Life readings also indicate that these crustaceans' genetic makeup have been altered in some way. I cannot trace the changes back to any known technology or method of genetic engineering."

"Thanks, Omega," said Marcus earnestly through his comm link in the Arwing. "It sounds like everything we've already found here is confirming suspicions about the area. Let's move forward, buddy!"

"Let's" was Omega's short reply.

The fox and his partner continued to trace the top of the toxic ocean waves and explore the depths beneath. They found more altered test subjects: glowing shoals of submarine-sized fish, spear-tipped jellyfish, double-limbed squids and a plethora of ravenous Zoness sharks.

It seemed as if the trail of suspected bioweapons was leading Marcus and Omega directly to the thought-to-be abandoned outpost in the middle of the toxic sea.

"We've found nothing so far. How disappointing," muttered Mewtwo to himself. He did not particularly want to start a conversation with Bowser, but he did not mind either. The monster koopa shared the sentiment.

"Urgh, I know! There's no action!" shouted Bowser.

The two powerhouses' hike along the cracked, grey stone shores of Zoness had been very uneventful so far. Only small signs of life had shown up for them, but at first glance, everything had seemed natural to the environment, at least as natural as things could grow and flourish on this radiated and polluted planet.

It was not until the pair found themselves at what looked to be the hurriedly abandoned site of an old building that their interest was finally peaked. It looked like something big had been grown and reared here.

"These tracks…" wondered Mewtwo, "…they look like they were made when large tentacles scraped along the surface. Bowser, what are your thoughts?"

"I'm no expert," admitted Bowser, "but it looks like whatever was dragged away from here…it wasn't willing to go along."

"Then there definitely is something wro-"

Mewtwo was cut off. The enormous silhouette that rose from the ocean waters beside them was enough to shake Bowser off his feet and disrupt Mewtwo's telepathic thought.

What sprawled out before them onto the rocks, dripping viscous saltwater, was something unnatural in its most defined sense. What looked like creatures combined in some unholy manner roared out at the Pokémon and his partner. The toothed flaps of a giant Zoness Shark mixed with what looked to be the tendrils of Diababa and the eyes of a burning lava fish burned its image into the minds of Bowser and Mewtwo. This thing was truly repulsive. On the same page once more, a shared look of disgust between them was what made the Nintendo wanderers prepare to wipe the ugliness clean away from the surface of planet Zoness.

The outpost seemed deserted at first. After climbing up the rickety ladder, leaving the Arwing wading just above the toxic sea, and shining light into the rusty excuse for a building dedicated to science, Marcus spotted Egg Pawn sentries. Omega did not leave those up and running for long, but those untamed blasts unknowingly gave away their position.

Were Eggman's robots protecting anything?

"Omega, no more firepower!" whispered Marcus intensely. "We can't afford to let anything else know we're here."

"Apologies, Marcus," said Omega in his typically robotic voice.

"Remember, buddy, we're here to scope out anything suspicious and then act. Those androids may be out-of-place, but they're not going to pose a whole lot of danger themselves."

"Of course. Just look at how easily they were wiped out."

"Yes…"

Marcus and Omega continued to climb up further, finding nothing more along their way. Either they spooked what had remained in the tower from the surrounding rooms or there really was nothing looking to ambush or surprise them.

Then, an Arbok and Kangaskhan appeared in flashes of light from the Pokéballs of their master. Poison breath and a flurry of punches aimed for the heroes, but they were a team. Omega, with his shimmering, resistant armor shielded the fox from the toxins while Marcus paralyzed the mother with his blaster. It was not a moment too soon as Kangaskhan's fist sailed right into the floor before Omega's feet thereafter. With keen sight and rapid scans, Marcus and Omega frantically looked around for the master of these beasts as they ran away from more attacks.

"Running away from mere Pokémon! I can see why it was always so frustrating for my colleagues to get beaten by heroes like you. It must be humiliating to be bested by cowards."

Marcus stopped and looked to the balcony where the sickly green of the Zoness skies shone through. Who did that voice belong to?

"Where is that voice coming from? Show yourself!" blared Omega.

"I'm a bit too preoccupied with my work, sorry. However, I can give the two of you a taste of it," shouted Giovanni as he called Arbok and Kangaskhan back into their homes.

A real force of nature, of twisted science, was unleashed from the boss's grasp.

The Zonessian Abomination struck out with spiked tentacles into the earth Bowser and Mewtwo stood on. It was not long that they stood there however. Bowser, a whirling fortress of more determined spikes, slammed into the maw of the Zoness shark head, sending it spiraling to the cliff face before it could attack once more.

Mewtwo then used psycho cut to slice into the bulbous, boiling eyes on the beast's shell, and with that attack, the monster writhed in pain and let out an unnatural shout. Whatever this really was they were fighting, it was not of this world alone.

"Someone had to create this beast; it's too sick for nature to have done this," said Mewtwo.

"Agreed," grunted Bowser as he dodged the slower tentacle strikes coming toward him now. The Abomination was in bad shape. "What is it that scientists typically call these types of things, again?"

"Bioweapons," said Mewtwo. "Those who take part in altering life into another means for artillery or defense are twisted. There is no greater perversion of this world, and creatures like this must be put out of their misery!"

Without much warning, a mighty psystrike ripped through the air into the maw of the Zonessian Abomination. Its screams echoed throughout its disintegrating body in an unsettling fashion. Mewtwo had not even broken a sweat in taking it down.

Meanwhile, Bowser admired the power of his partner. He was majorly impressed. But then he got to thinking. Mewtwo was a clone of another lifeform and was created for supposedly evil ends and used to battle others. Didn't that make him a bioweapon too?

Mewtwo shot a friendly glance at Bowser. They had won the battle without much trouble at all. Not being one for emotional encounters, Bowser ignored the potential of Mewtwo having any capacity for self-loathing. Instead, the two heroes walked along the rocky beach and tried to get a strong enough signal to contact Katrina. They had found a bioweapon; their suspicions had been correct. And as long as Mewtwo focused his hatred for the unnatural on their enemies, Bowser thought they would have nothing to worry about.

At least, what this mission with Mewtwo had helped the koopa king realize so far was that he was not alone in coming from a ripped up background. Even this godlike Pokémon was making the best of his situation. Bowser would continue to do so too, he thought to himself with newfound, well-meaning courage.

A pile of rocks seething in molten lava surrounded Marcus and Omega in the Zoness science outpost. When the rocks began to build on themselves and the lava started to melt and drip into the lower floors, Giovanni finally introduced his team's early creation.

"Personally, I never knew piles of dirt could create something so incredible, but, as it turns out, life force in this terrible galaxy has even seeped into creatures like this…such as Thardus and Magman and Steppe Talus. Two of them living piles of psychokinetic rock, the other the living lava that holds them together. Good luck with this fight, fools."

A pool of lava was nearing Marcus's boots. Not even Omega could wade through a substance this hot. Despite what looked like no way out, these heroes kept their cool.

"Omega, do you know any reason we can't take this down?" asked Marcus playfully to his robotic companion.

"Not at all," came the dry reply. Barrages of missiles were already being sent into the boulders, some that stayed in place to take the brunt of the attacks and others that were thrown off the path from hitting their targets. Marcus, knowing any ice arrows or GF ice guns that they did not have to be this monstrosity's weakness on foot, made a judgment call and decided he would get back to his arwing immediately. As big as this thing was, there was no way a pile of rocks and lava were going to stand a chance against the full power of his ship, hopefully.

After hearing of the fox's plan, Omega knew what he would have to do. "I will protect you and cause distractions. You get to your ship as fast as possible."

"Thanks, Omega! We're taking this thing out!"

The robot's bulk hid Marcus away from the deadly, fiery assault until the blue hero could reach the ladder. He slid down as Omega prepared to dive into battle more fiercely. Jets lit on the backs of his legs, Omega shot up into the featureless face of the monster. He peppered the crystal on its top with bullets, but Thardus blew the brute off with a massive psychic wave. Marcus had better hurry, Omega worried, because the essence of Magman was flowing ever faster in and throughout the outpost.

Marcus ran as fast as he could, which was an insanely brisk speed. He had been the top runner at his academy on Corneria every year, much to the pride of himself and his father. But none of that mattered now. Now, that quickness was coming in handy. Running every night through the barracks while others had slept or goofed off was turning out to be practical, pivotal preparation.

Lava blasted out of the lowest hatch on the outpost as it followed Marcus who was leaping into his ship right in front of it. The fast, blue fox was speedy enough to get in his cockpit unharmed, but the lava still landed on the bow of the Arwing, permanently damaging one of his dad's prized models. Knowing it would not matter a bit to anyone if he used it for what he was about to do, Marcus hovered outside to the middle of the outpost.

Omega was having some trouble in the outpost's innards. Although his armor protected against most stray specks of cinder, the force of an entire plume that had erupted from Magman blew the robot back into the wall. He was badly damaged with exposed circuits sparking everywhere.

Once the unwavering robot, even in his shaken state, managed to let loose his most powerful attack in a huge beam of fuchsia energy at the rocks, Omega had nothing left more to do. Marcus's twin plasma blasters shot through the wall of the Zoness outpost easily. The fox had made sure to scan for his friend and avoid shooting him, and now he had the Talus-Thardus-Magman amalgamation in his sights.

Rapid Arwing fire sent the soulless beast sprawling backward into the other side of the building. Omega stood to see the fox give a thumbs up beneath the cockpit speckled with ash. It was working. The two heroes had no weakness to serve the enemy, but brute force in firepower and teamwork was all that was needed to win.

In its final desperate attack before being pushed through the opposite wall, the boiling hot swarm of rocks let its magma fly from its body, leaving the boulders of Talus and Thardus without support and splashing into the toxic sea. Magman's essence spewed forth from the final breathing moment of the rock monster to defeat something, and it aimed perfectly for Marcus and the Arwing.

Seeing it coming, the fox reacted quickly and punched open the cockpit, knowing he had to leave the ship behind. He ran through the remaining lava on the front point of his ship; soles of shoes almost brunt through when he jumped from the ruined arwing. Magman, meanwhile, fizzled into the green Zoness waters along with the ruined Arwing.

"Whew, that was a close one…" said Marcus out of breath and with hands on his knees. "You did great, Omega. I couldn't have escaped without you!"

"Thank you for saying that," said Omega. "And, also…thank you for saving my life. Without you, I would be spare parts."

"Well then, no one wants that! We couldn't afford for something like that to happen to you, buddy."

"I know, I'm an invaluable streng-"

"No, not just that," interrupted Marcus. "We care about you as much as anyone."

Omega stared blankly. His torso was somewhat burnt, and his right arm was dislocated from its socket.

"…You big, unfeeling mass of spare parts!" Marcus joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Ha ha," voiced Omega in his unmistakable tone. "But now we have someone to apprehend. We must get him."

"Of course!" agreed Marcus, who had almost forgotten the attack's culprit.

When Marcus had said that, no sooner did Giovanni finish sending his distress signal out to Andrew. His pet had been destroyed, but the Team Rocket fiend had what the entire group of them needed most: Mew. Ironically, Giovanni had been the first to finally catch the legendary creature immediately after its partner left the world to help on this very mission.

Marcus and Omega reached the top of the outpost and saw her. Mew looked like she was suffering inside the large test tube that housed her. The final ingredient these mad scientists had needed, Mew's DNA, which included all of the future descendants of her complete and ultimate genome, had already reproduced monsters and beasts Nintendo heroes had already slain long ago. Giovanni was not going to tell them that though. And neither was Oikonny. Whatever Mew had created with the help of Eggman's new bioweapon initiative was going to be a new surprise for any heroes.

"All life comes from this fragile creature," said Giovanni as he stalked behind the machine that kept Mew in custody. His menacing demeanor had no jokes in store, but Giovanni could not help but chuckle at how all life came from one frail-looking creature.

"That's exactly why, if you're smart," started Marcus, "you will hand yourself and the Pokémon over to us, and all will be right." The fox tried to appear serious too, but he was losing his balance. This outpost, with two walls blasted out of it, was becoming very unstable.

"I guess you're right," sighed Giovanni. "I was hoping my partner would have made it here by now. There's almost no point in stalling the inevitable."

"I'm glad you see it our way," said Marcus. "Omega, blast a hole in that wall, so we can be ready for our friends in orbit to pick us up with this criminal."

As soon as Omega did so in the commotion of the blast, Giovanni went for his Pokémon, but it was too late. Marcus flew to him in a flash and locked his arms in a hold. Omega put a railgun to Giovanni's head.

"You are not going to fight anymore," said Omega in his cold tone of voice.

"Stop, I give up!" yelped Giovanni. He was not liking the cold steel of the robot's railgun against his neck.

"See, this doesn't have to be so hard, boss," joked Marcus. "You can be an imaginary mobster in the prison of our choosing soon enough."

"Hmph, it doesn't matter, you fools," scoffed the Pokémon master. "What I started here with Mew is going to get finished. And you don't even know what's coming for you that we've already conjured up!"

"Great, keep talking!" said Marcus with his trademark smirk as he led the old boss to the gaping hole in the outpost wall. "Now we know there's a 'we!'"

Giovanni heard that clearly. He did not want to blow Eggman's secrecy. Too much was still at stake here. He would watch the Nintendo heroes crumble from inside any prison.

Right then, Oikonny's Egg Usher soared into view on the horizon. It was almost upon the outpost already since neither the heroes nor Giovanni saw it coming in the scuffles prior. Without thinking, the mob boss broke from Marcus's hold and took off running abruptly to the edge. It was the last decision Giovanni ever made.

Panic did not compute for Omega, and he saw the error Giovanni made as a fatal one, warranting justified execution. Eggman's android shot a round from his arm that pierced right through Giovanni's heart and chest, killing the man instantly. The blast was so powerful that it launched the mad man too, and he was sent into the chilling Zoness wind, silhouetted by the hazy sunset sky before he reached the toxic waters below.

Giovanni landed with a sickening splash. The death and burial had been nearly instantaneous, and Marcus was in shock. Nothing should have led Omega to kill the man on the spot. He had not even attacked. Running for help was probably a moment of weakness for Giovanni, and Marcus had thought that after being beaten, he was truly going to comply.

The fox had no words for Omega right now. The shock was too much to allow any words from the blue pup's mouth. With Oikonny almost upon them (unbeknownst to them), they still had Mew to attend to. She looked pale and weak. They could at least contact Mewtwo and tell him the legendary Pokémon was here and still alive.

About to give Omega an order, Marcus felt ill himself all of a sudden. Omega looked malfunctioning as well. A familiar creature attached to Andrew's ship was sending out a critical wave pattern; the living and the mechanical could not avoid its crippling power. A bioweapon that Mew's cells helped create, the revived Phantoon detached from its vessel and shot off into space, soon to be a potential field of havoc for the resurrected monster. It was not the only returning horror either.

Marcus could barely get a glimpse of the shadowy tentacles and the cruiser it left behind in the smog of evening before he collapsed unconscious. Omega was completely powered down. His computations were still taking in Giovanni's murder when he went asleep. Mew and the unexpected catch of two Nintendo heroes were easy pickings for Oikonny, Matren and the rest of the Usher's crew. The loss of Giovanni was barely felt. The ape and the Eggman still had what they needed.

Mewtwo and Bowser had seen the explosions far-off in the distance and were still wondering if Marcus and Omega were okay. Knowing them, they were probably the ones causing the chaos, but with everything scoped out on the coast as requested and the Zonessian Abomination slain, this pair glided over the green waves to investigate.

Bowser uneasily shifted his scaly feet when Mewtwo told him they were going to have to float to the blast site with his psychokinesis. The koopa king knew the Pokémon was confident in his abilities, but he was not sure if it was warranted.

"I know you ARE bigger than most, but I promise, I won't drop you," said Mewtwo telepathically. "I've done this before. Levitation, especially for only two people, is no big use of my strength."

"Fine," grunted Bowser somewhat unhappily. He was undoubtedly nervous. "But if you do drop me, you're never going to stop hearing me complain!"

Mewtwo agreed: "Fair enough," as he raised the heavy koopa into the air. Mewtwo followed. His feet were never touching the ground, but now they were both practically flying, making their way to the wreckage of the outpost they had seen burst in flames not long ago.

It took Bowser about half the trip to get used to flight. He waved his arms and legs playfully after waving them in a startled panic at first. Mewtwo never humored him though. He preferred levitating in silence. If there was nothing productive to be said, Mewtwo never wanted to say anything at all.

Despite knowing this, Bowser tried to make small talk as they neared the remains of the outpost. "So, uhh…err, how does it feel? I mean, having so much power. You must feel like a powerhouse all the time! I bet that feels great!"

Mewtwo just smiled to himself. Bowser's ignorance and shallow nature were amusing. "Actually, I see my powers as a burden. No creature should have as much of it as I do. I've fallen into the hands of evil, to be used by cowardly men and infernal magic, time and again. All it's caused is pain and suffering. This is why I live alone with Mew where I can ponder the ways of the world without harming those who inhabit it. Only when the world, or now that I am with you heroes, worlds, are in crisis, do I intervene and come out of the chrysalis of home."

"Oh…wow, I see," said Bowser, as deep in thought as the koopa ever dove. "So, where is that home?"

"The Valley of Life," answered Mewtwo. "Some say it's where all things in the world of Pokémon began. Mew was born there, and fittingly, I feel connected as well. Hopefully, I'm not a perversion of that sacred place…But I've come to realize, I can't blame myself for that…just the humans that created me."

"You are filled with many stories, aren't you? Well, in any case, I've learned from someone recently a lot more about fate than I ever thought I'd know. Maybe…you were always meant to be created."

Mewtwo paused at this sudden depth of meaning from Bowser's words. He rolled them over in his infinitely turning mind. "Perhaps."

As soon as Mewtwo could view the wreckage in the distance, they picked up speed through the Zonessian air. What they found worried them a lot, but it was not until Mewtwo found the empty capsule that had once housed Mew that he felt helpless and desperate.

"WHAT?! How could they have captured Mew?!"

Bowser, who had been scoping the lower decks for any signs of Marcus or Omega, came to meet his partner quickly. "What happened?"

"This is impossible…" said Mewtwo, ignoring Bowser, as the distraught Pokémon held his head in his hands. "The others are gone, yes, but they've also somehow kidnapped Mew and took her from here. If we think these fools are creating bioweapons, then they've got the origin of all life to do it…"

"Woah…So this seriously couldn't be worse?!" yelled Bowser at the situation, not Mewtwo.

"Depending on what's already happened, you're right, that may not be possible. We have to explore the planet, call the others to let them know what's wrong."

"I'm sorry, Mewtwo, but I don't think that part's possible. I actually dipped my toes in the water here myself and found the wreckage of that ship."

"The arwing?"

"Yeah, it doesn't look like we'll be able to contact Katrina quick enough…but I just say we should fly and follow where these idiots who captured Mew might have gone. You can sense her, right?"

"I can follow Mew's brain waves if I concentrate, yes. I guess I should think on this and try to target her. Then we'll go there as quickly as we can! Tampering with all life…and Mew…it's all unforgivable."

Mewtwo would never know that Giovanni's body, that of his old master, lay below the surface of the water. In truth, he would have taken little satisfaction in knowing he was dead. Every thought Mewtwo could muster, thousands of them all at once, were all focused on finding Mew. Bowser, for once, waited patiently, so Mewtwo could meditate on this crime against all life.

Marcus hated the gag in his mouth. Matren had stowed him and Omega away in the hold in the far back of the Egg Usher. Oikonny had greedily decided to hold them for ransom in hopes of getting an insane sum from Nintendo, which Andrew would no doubt get a chilling satisfaction from. Having something over Nintendo, something they would bargain anything for, felt so sweet. Piloting this megalith cruiser felt just as good, but it left Oikonny wondering. Would it have been better to execute the son of Fox McCloud instead? He surely would have one less major problem to worry about. And what if he could get the chance to tell Fox himself that he killed his son?

Maybe, the cowardly ape would change his mind.

For now, Marcus was struggling to get free of his binds. Omega was the key, but there was no waking the completely powered down robot. If only the fox could reboot Omega, the Egg Usher would be a memory left in the Zoness sea just as Giovanni was.

That got Marcus thinking about the death sentence of said mob boss again. He had been outraged at Omega, all the way to the point of having no words to speak to him. The vision of the man filled with bullets falling into the ocean's embrace was just so unbelievable.

But was there a chance Omega had made the right decision? Marcus knew from growing up in the Cornerian Academy and even the recent possession of Adam that truly terrible things could come from origins often overlooked. If they had left Giovanni alive, would countless lives have been snuffed out due to the creations he would make? And what about all the crimes of his past? The world had already decided Giovanni should be brought to justice. He had just eluded it forever. Omega killing him where he stood, because of a final defiant move against them both, was effectively a means to an end of not giving the dangerous villain any chances at escape through corrupt systems or daring maneuvers.

In short, Giovanni was dead, and the galaxy was better for it. However, Marcus could not help but feel his near perfect moral code ruined at what he had seen and almost condoned. He was thinking it the right thing too! Or maybe not the right thing, but perhaps a necessary one.

Left to struggle to kick something toward Omega to reboot his partner and squirm in his moral ambiguity all the while, Oikonny gloated with good feeling of his past, seen through rose-colored glasses, as he boasted to the lizard and egg pawn-filled crew of his days impersonating a robotic Andross, serving as one of the ace Star Wolf pilots, and managing a deadly crab android on Fichina. He was _only_ barely beaten by Star Fox every time.

Of course, that part was completely false.

Matren could not listen to the display anymore. His captain was really getting on his nerves more and more every time he was subjected to the foul and unearned arrogance of his leader. He guessed he would just go back and check on their prisoners. They were secure, but perhaps it was worth checking on them.

It would have been had Marcus and Omega not already escaped. The fox had finally managed to kick his boot off his footpaw to hit the robot so hard in its head that it automatically rebooted in a defensive mode. Flames barely missing Marcus's ears, he talked sense into his buddy soon enough for Omega to blow him free. Now, they would wait silently despite how ecstatic they were at this second chance, for now, they held the advantage.

"We need to find Mew first," remembered Marcus. She had been taken from the custody of one coward to another, which only made him even angrier at Oikonny.

Omega transformed into a larger, Tails-enabled, deadlier version of himself as he said, "There's no reason for subtlety," and rocketed off, leaving stealth and Marcus behind. The latter had thought the android would cooperate now.

Marcus was starting to wonder if it was a good idea to assign this robot on team missions. He was not following orders, and his dad would not condone that once the briefing came to pass after all was taken care of. Marcus ventured to guess what repercussions killing Giovanni would have on the galaxy, but he did not want to worry himself with what Omega's trail of wreckage would do for their slightly altered mission. At least, the blue Cornerian fox could still hide.

Explosions rang out throughout the hull and the deck of the Egg Usher as Omega blazed a path toward finding Mew. Dozens of apes and lizards screamed in his wake, and it was almost instant that Andrew flew in a raged panic at the head of the ship. He had no courage to face the unstoppable robot directly. Oikonny should have dismantled the killing machine when he had had the chance to. Marcus was a different story.

And the son of McCloud was creating that story on his own terms. The muscular fox was surprisingly able to fit in the air vents of the ship. He had been bigger than his dad for quite a while; Marcus always contended that he was the right size. This was further proving that point. Marcus had not been seen yet.

Omega found Mew in a closed-off cargo hold Matren had been ordered to shut up. The first mate had protested to Oikonny that it might not be able to breathe, and he had been right to worry. When Omega blasted the shutters away, Mew was looking ill, covered in sweat (which was very unusual for Mew) and struggling to keep her eyes even a fraction open.

Never a gentle fixture by nature, Omega was unsure of how to handle the Pokémon. He guarded it from incoming egg pawns while he thought of how to break through the capsule that housed her. He made an incision with one of his spiny, black fingers and reached in to pull her out. He was surprised to see Mew float in a small pink bubble within his hand; it turned out Mew was not out of it yet. In Omega's grasp, the scientists would never endanger creation and birth bioweapons from her DNA again.

Marcus found himself looking down upon Oikonny as he set his deep blue eyes on the ape who had tormented lifeforms around the galaxy. He had disturbed their mission and constantly run away from his consequences. Now, he was going to pay for it.

"Come on, you stinkin' apes!" shouted Andrew. "Let's get a move on! Ready the secret weapons! Finish that call to the Eggman! We need all the help we can get if we're going to get rid of these pests!"

That was the last thing Oikonny said in front of his men alone. Marcus kicked open the hatch directly above Oikonny's platform in the command center. It landed on the ape's feet, causing him to shout in pain before it could be interrupted by higher pitches as Marcus landed on the deranged leader and had him in a chokehold in front of his followers before any of them had any time to react.

Marcus's young blue face with its ruffles of white fur looked innocent enough to the hostage bystanders. It contrasted immensely with the things the young pup was thinking of doing to the ape. What had been a source of endless cheer around his friends a couple days ago was now a muzzle filled with heroic determination that protruded past Oikonny's shoulder. He was panicking, asking his men to get a clear shot at the fox.

"Why, boss? He's not going to kill you; he's chicken, so why take the chance on it," asked one of the lackeys.

"Because foxes can be unpredictable! Shoot him!"

"Wait, wait, wait a minute," shouted Marcus offended. "You think because I'm the hero taking you villainy scum down that I'm above killing this piece of trash?"

Marcus said this as he moved the gun from its mark on one of the butchers to the temple of Oikonny's skull covered in his signature grease of white fur. Marcus held his rival's shoulder tighter with his other hand. If only the soldiers were taken care of, Marcus could actually follow through. He could kill the bastard.

That was when the crash came. A brilliant yet confusing display of lights, sounds, smoke and mechanical ash littered the air where no one could see. In fact, very few of Oikonny's followers were left after Omega's most devastating explosion yet. He still kept Mew safe in his other claw. The second had just been used to obliterate most of the command station, leaving a couple ruffians on the floor groaning in pain as pools of blood spilled from their centers.

Marcus was shaken, but he had locked up into the same stance. He was relieved to see Omega with Mew and him out of trouble. Maybe, there really was no reason for subtlety. They had gone their separate ways and completed this new objective together and apart.

One last thing: what to do with the ship's captain?

As if seeing Omega's figure in the smoke made him react, Marcus immediately threw Oikonny down to the floor after realizing the new reality of the situation. Andrew looked genuinely worried now. It was a type of cowardice, this time, that almost made Marcus feel sympathetic.

But Marcus was not stupid. Despite the groveling and the almost incoherent rambling of words that pleaded for the fox not to shoot him, the young pup remembered all of the recent history lessons at the Cornerian Academy, all the stories his dad had told him as a child. Simply put, Andrew Oikonny was a menace, not even a power to be admired. He was a waste of life, and here he was, still, after over twenty years of trouble, making the same mistakes and trying to tamper with the lives of innocents. No more.

"Do it," said Omega. "Mew is safe. She is our objective. She will be in danger if Andrew is left alive. Kill him."

Marcus wanted to believe he did not need Omega's opinion to help justify what he wanted to do with the ape's life. One of his followers, dying on the floor, looked up into the deep blue eyes of the fox.

"You don't have to kill him," said the loyal ape mournfully. "You've already, ack, beaten him." He coughed up a final bit of blood. "You've beaten all of us…"

Andrew was still babbling and getting more desperate with each passing moment Marcus took to decide. The ape was almost hugging Marcus's feet when he finally spoke again.

"Don't go near me, Oikonny," said Marcus defiantly as he backed up, gun still pointed right in Andrew's face. "I've thought a lot about this…" muttered Marcus, but still with lasting diction on the last syllable of every word he almost whispered to himself and his opponent, defenseless on the floor.

"And I know for sure," the pup continued, "that if I let you live today, you'll only go on to make life worse for others, like you always do. I can't allow that to happen anymore. And definitely not on this scale. You lack the courage in the execution of your own beliefs and the confidence in your actions to be the man to tamper with life's greatest creation. Sick to the core, Andrew, that's what you are. This is it…I'm not going to let my own morality get in the way of doing what's right for future people. What do you have to say to end your life, Andrew?"

"Marcus…" murmured Oikonny, eerily having accepted his fate, it appeared, "…what different animal altogether has come from the great and noble Fox McCloud. What a joke…"

The laser pelted through the hide, the skull, the brain and out in reverse order. Thankfully, it had silenced Oikonny's mocking. Omega was getting tired of hearing the ape speak. Mew was all right, and the Egg Usher was no longer in the commission of the league of scientists, of whom one remained alive, who wanted to threaten the galaxy with the perversion of life. All that was left to see was what was already created.

These permutations of possible lifeforms they would have to deal with or scenarios they would need to take care of rushed through Omega's processors. Mew still in hand, Omega steered the ship toward the Zoness cliffs, where Mewtwo and Bowser would head too. They were still on the cruiser's trail and had seen the blasts of the scuffle.

Meanwhile, Marcus McCloud was frozen in the spot in which he had killed another living being with no honor. He had had reason, but he may not have had justice. His mouth was not really agape, just slightly parted as the fox thought more on what he had just done. Looking into the dead eyes of the wasted ape was not making it any easier to convince himself he had done the right thing.

Marcus started to move after some minutes of contemplation. What Oikonny had not done to him, admittedly because the coward had expected to reap some selfish reward for bargaining his life, Marcus had committed to the coward. The fox with the deep blue eyes tried to shed any thoughts about his ego now. He was accepting that this kill would always haunt him, but in the end, he thought, the decision to murder was a selfless one. Marcus had exchanged the potential suffering of innocents for the imperfection of his own ethics.

One thought plagued Marcus more than any other moral quandary though. What would his father think?

Bowser and Mewtwo quickly made their way to the cliff where the Egg Usher had landed moments ago. The chaos had stopped aboard the flying goliath (which usually meant, and likely too, that the good guys succeeded), but that did not stop Mewtwo and his uncomfortable traveling partner from moving any swifter through the air.

Immediately after landing, Marcus sent Omega to fly out and assuage their partners' worries. Not one of them had been hurt, which was not a lie. Marcus assumed the deaths of Giovanni and Oikonny would not ruin the hardened consciences of Bowser and Mewtwo if they knew that it had been Omega and Oikonny who had killed the prizes they were after. After all, the four of them combined had the gist of the madmen's plot figured out. Judging on the architecture of Oikonny's final vessel, Eggman was all they needed to find to end the perversion of life the scientists' had planned.

At least, the continuation of such a plan had been thwarted, for now Mewtwo held the ultimately fragile and tired Mew in his paws. He was still reeling from how insane it was that she had been kidnapped from their secret valley, apparently not soon after leaving for this mission when Fox had decided their home would be an apt stronghold with some heroes looking out for her (a flash of Eggman's new warping technology had abducted her from the Silver Sonic battleground, which had only ever been meant as a reconnaissance point for the villains, and rendered the guards shocked asleep). But now that feeling faded instantly with her in his grasp again; Mewtwo kept looking at her shivering, still breathing mostly normally. Her tiny frame needed attention, and Marcus had already called from his communicator medical assistance would be needed on Zoness.

"So, it was all of these fools' plan to create bioweapons from Mew's genes?" asked Mewtwo in mid-conversation. "I always knew Giovanni would be capable of such things, but I had no idea his kind of avarice was repeated in other worlds too."

"Unfortunately, yes…it is," said Marcus with quivering voice, but not because he was unsure of the validity of what he had said.

"Yep, Two," started Bowser who had apparently grown comfortable with Mewtwo in a very short amount of time, "even you have more to learn."

"Yes," affirmed Mewtwo, "and most of all that includes the most complicated thing of all." Mewtwo knew a great many things, more than most without even trying, but he lacked the experience others had with change.

"What is that?" asked Marcus in earnest. Perhaps he could put it on the to-do list too.

"People's natures," said Mewtwo simply.

Right then, the Egg Carrier III breached the clouds of the lower Zoness atmosphere and thundered into the ground with incredible force, much to the shock of the four heroes. What had caused it, too, to go asunder?

"It still feels weird sending our son on solo missions, doesn't it?" asked Fox full of papers and writing tick marks on a schedule that seemed overloaded with briefings, conferences, trainings and counseling sessions, all of which he had to run with the added stress of it potentially being the final year if it was not all done swiftly. He had let his mind wander in the presence of his wife to the only thing it ever did besides work: family.

"It does, indeed," said Krystal calmly as she knew through her mind-reading that the smoothness of her voice was just one of many things that kept her husband from becoming unhinged. "I'm also glad our son is so good at what he does, like his father at that age, that we're able to send him into something he wants to do," said Krystal thoughtfully and cheerfully.

"It's amazing," sighed Fox in half-relief and-half pervasive moodiness that would not quit. He slumped back in his chair as he thought of what a far cry signing papers and talking to others was from battling endlessly in space. While Krystal nodded silently, as she knew her husband to be full of thoughts that were not to be interrupted, Fox thought again that maybe it was not. He signed Cornerian invoices and bantered with his teammates back when he was young; he just did a lot more of something similar now. Encouraging hundreds of fellow warriors and keeping a schedule tight enough to handle the end of the universe was just different. It was something he had honestly become quite good at, just not anything he would ever, nor would he want to, get used to.

Sensing her Fox finished with his brainstorm of self-reflection, Krystal peppered in something to lighten his mood. "About Marcus…what do you think he and his team are going to find? Knowing how he never gives up and hardly ever fails, he's going to end a lot of bad things for a lot of good people. As we all know, signs of tampered life always point to something horrible."

"I do know that," said Fox, turning the tragedy of it over in his head, "and that's why I sent our son on something so important. He's become a better fox than I ever could have dreamed he'd be…hell, he's only eighteen, and he's already as mature as me at my age now!"

"Yeah, and he didn't do all of that just on his own," Krystal reminded him.

"Yes, I think we were good parents and are still alive…"

"Thankfully," said Krystal telepathically.

"…but he did do so much of it on his own. Ever since he was born, he's always been so good around different people. Around his comrades and friends, he knows how to be almost incessantly cheerful to bring them up. And around the evilest creatures, he knows how to be merciless and precise in his actions. Nintendo could not ask for a better hero, and the fact that that shining example is our son blows me away every time."

"I couldn't agree more."

Fox and Krystal put their son on their minds some more and were able to share each other's thoughts as Marcus killed Oikonny systems away in Nintendia.

That was until Fox and Krystal strayed to another topic of family and looked at each other longingly. Fox was long overdue for a break anyway.

The Comet Observatory followed the vessel it had defeated, blown into the planet below. In her patrol of the galaxy she was now trying to finish after having it on hold for so long taking care of Bowser, Rosalina had no idea that the Egg Carrier she had found planting monsters all over the Lylat System was the final target her partner and his friends were searching for.

Not one to let a possible danger to the cosmos continue to exist, the mother of the stars crashed through the same thick Zoness smog her opponent had gone through. The Egg Carrier III was still intact.

Meanwhile, Bowser was the one who received this second shock the most. Seeing the pursuer follow the downed ship was no extra surprise to the others, but Bowser had not expected to see Rosalina again so soon. All the while, Marcus and Omega wondered at and computed the odds of Mewtwo's friend being the source of their prey's plan and their final known target being delivered to them without hardly any action.

It was all still surreal when Eggman blasted out of his forgotten warship in a much more modest pod. Without warning or time to act, he snatched Mew from the clone's paws instantly and threated to kill her if anything be done further. Last of three madmen, Eggman was still in control.

"Things may go wrong," started Eggman, "but when they do, I can always count on the things you do to put me a step even further ahead in the game than I was before the upset! You've made it all very fun and incredibly easy!" said Eggman cryptically, oozing with maliciousness in his tone.

"What do you mean?!" shouted Marcus harshly. If his friends or family could see him now, they would have been seeing a side of him they never had before.

Eggman smiled smugly, knowing that he was out of their reach. He was familiar with the weapons he had designed in Omega's systems, and he was not worried about Mewtwo trying anything, lest Mew's life be risked. Bowser hurried over to Rosalina in the background to see how she tied into all of this.

Finally itching for his evil plan to be revealed too, Eggman spilled his secrets after gaining satisfaction in the silent anguish he saw on his adversaries' faces.

"It's interesting how fate works, see?" started the doctor. "I never really believed in it myself, but now, there's piling statistical evidence that seems to point to its existence!"

Marcus barred his teeth while the others listened intently, waiting for the Eggman to drop his guard.

"For instance," continued the doctor as he pointed to Mewtwo, "that bioweapon who killed our Zoness ocean beast was the key to our making more and better of the like. Right when your team decided to investigate us was when I plucked that originator, Mew, out of your valley, clone! And now, here you are handing her over to me again…with NO TROUBLE AT ALL, HA HA HA!"

Mewtwo's palms burned with the shadow energy he had been holding back until now. He remembered the mysterious presence of Silver Sonic and cursed at himself, half-shocked and half-disappointed, as he correctly assumed the Eggman its creator. In an effort to protect people, he had let his guard down. Silently fuming at himself and the doctor, Mewtwo loosed a shadow ball toward the egg mobile with sheer legendary intensity. The Eggman dodged once, but he could not help but go down in the barrage of gunfire and mystical energy that followed Mewtwo's vengeful appetizer.

Mew could handle the crash; she had to. It was imperative to get the creator of all life out of the Eggman's hands.

The Pokémon fell out of his clutches and would have tumbled to the cliff below had Mewtwo not extended his levitating cloud to reach her. She was safe. Perhaps this was the end for Eggman as well. Bowser had gripped the fragile doctor, powerless without his machines, after the crash and was looking into the mad blue eyes of the doctor as he remained flailing in mid-air. Pretending to beg for mercy, Eggman's head meanwhile was a whirring machine at work beneath his thin, bald cranium.

Knowing what Eggman had done to the galaxy just prior from what Rosalina had told him, Bowser looked ready to breathe fire. Mew looked up at Mewtwo as she lay in his paws. Her power had been sapped time and again. Her unwanted spawn were not done being born, and they were just starting to terrorize the galaxy.

"Well, well," said Eggman abnormally cheerfully in the mitt of the enemy as he looked at Bowser's mug, "You DO look like the something I've been looking for. There must be something BIG hidden inside you."

Not having enough time to react, the heroes could only stand in shock and look in awe. Taking out some unfamiliar device tipped with a liquid-soaked needle, Eggman kicked out of the grasp of his captor, placed a hair he had plucked from Mew into the machine and stabbed Bowser directly in his bulging, scaly belly. He yelped highly in his pain. The stinging sensation was just getting started.

With Marcus not wasting any more time to finally detain Eggman in cuffs, all Omega, Rosalina and Mewtwo could do was watch the gruesome transformation. Mew had the ability to unlock the deepest power within any creature, given the right science. Eggman had just happened upon both of the things he needed: the originator and a worthy experiment to test the theory and execute the plan for domination the three mad men had conjured up.

First, Bowser felt everything rip inside him. To the shock of his comrades, Rosalina's horror and Eggman's grim satisfaction, the koopa grew twice his size in an instant. Unlike most other times when he had grown bigger to face his enemies, Bowser now seemed very unsure and scared of his own growth. He had not wanted to hurt anyone for a long time.

His feet extended sickeningly across the gray Zoness stone until Bowser's claws stuck out to a grotesque length like another pair of feet-sized tendrils. The same phenomenon was happening to his hands that branched from his bulging body full of terrible new muscles. The lanky limbs became a sharp contrast to the massive hulk that was the king's torso, a chamber full of an evil heat. Most frightening of all, the teeth that lay bared from his face wrought with pain and the spikes that stood on end from the back of his shell looked sharper than the most perfect blades, ready to pierce through anything. Bowser, whose expressions had gone from a wracked state of surprise and grief to those of a snarling, primal beast throughout the transformation, now stood ten times taller than his old self. A reformed king was now the great Giga Bowser, a form he had always wanted to forget.

"Well, that should do," said Eggman, who, still cuffed, had prepared to escape while the gruesome business was getting done. The new ships of his could be controlled with his thoughts, and freedom was seeming possible. However, he had not planned on everything that was about to happen at once.

Finally, Nintendo had shown up, heeding Marcus's call for action. Two things shot out of the Halberd at once as Giga Bowser attempted to wipe out his targets in his way with a torrent of fire. The beast lacked a mind or will of his own to guide his actions, much to the satisfaction of Eggman who was otherwise quite worried.

Two heroes then interrupted both the destructive force and the fleeing of the destructive mind. Fox, landing in his arwing, detained the doctor who had tried to make an escape in his Egg Mobile. Shadow had sprung into the fray with one of the chaos emeralds in tow and warped Giga Bowser far away from Zoness. He had not thought of where to send the monster initially, and he ended up thinking his wish to save the others too strong. Giga Bowser might have been warped to the other end of the galaxy.

"D-Dad," stammered Marcus. "I'm glad you came as quick as you did."

"It looks like things could've gone smoother if we had been faster," replied Fox simply out of the corner of his muzzle as he gave the cuffs on Eggman a rough tug to make sure they were secure. "Where's Mewtwo?"

And that's when they all realized Shadow had accidentally caught Mew and Mewtwo in his chaos control that had sent Giga Bowser away. The beast and his fated combatants were, unknown to these heroes, banished to Master Hand's final destination.

Rosalina then told Marcus and the others of the bioweapons she had found on her way to the planet. She volunteered to search the galaxy for her partner and the Pokémon. The comet observatory would stand the best chance of finding them quickly.

Omega jettisoned off into space immediately. Marcus, telling his father he wanted to see part of the mad men's plan to the end by killing a bioweapon, took off in his dad's arwing. He also wanted to avoid telling his father what he had done. Eggman captured (they were thinking of putting him in G.U.N.'s custody since no one wanted him around at the Pillar) and Giovanni and Oikonny dead, their plot had come to a swift end. Unfortunately though, Nintendo was going to be dealing with the products of that tampering with life for the rest of time to come.

Omega had found his target. The flying behemoth that had immobilized him and his partner was going to answer to Eggman's other creation. The dreaded Phantoon, a beast that had been instilling terror into creatures and cities alike for years, had been birthed from Mew's genes. Finding just the right combination of DNA created this beast anew. The original had been killed by Samus Aran aboard the bottle ship, and now Omega fully intended to be its second killer.

The android caught it by surprise in the depths of the cosmos. Jets spitting blue fire off Omega's feet, he blew up at close range behind the creature's head. Phantoon turned around but only to be too late in sending its debilitating waves of energy. Omega soared around and stuck his railgun into the tentacles. Shooting those to bits made the beast writhe in agony.

Phantoon chose to summon spawn, hordes of hand-like children with sickly skin and eyeballs shooting laser blasts out of the palms. Omega ended them swiftly, using his claws to tear out the sources of the energy. It gave the android an idea, and after disintegrating the corpses of the ghostly minions with his searing pink laser, Omega headed for Phantoon itself.

With tentacles torn off and huge mind pulsating with psychokinetic rage, Phantoon whirred around, shooting blue flames at Omega as it did so. Not hot enough to burn Omega, he braved the attacks while floating in space and shoved his claw deep into the pupil of the enemy. Phantoon cried out as Omega ripped the entire eyeball from the head of the beast. Defeated, Phantoon began to disappear in a white light forever once more.

Satisfied, Omega propelled off toward Zoness. He was ready to dock and rest at the Halberd. Having eliminated his targets, Eggman's creation considered his mission complete. No one else would know, but Omega felt a slight tinge of happiness, knowing that he had thwarted part of his old master's vision for the world.

Rosalina wasted no time searching the galaxy for signs of Bowser. In truth, she could not be more worried. His transformation had been gruesome, yes, but even if he could be saved and turned back to normal, she shuddered to think what effect this transformation and the resulting actions would have on his psyche. Was this fate that his new leaf be reversed by simple chance and the will of an evil man? Mother of the cosmos, she could not help but have that thought cross her mind.

The observatory was nearing the edge of the galaxy, where space junk and ancient ruins filled with mysterious platforms and monoliths abounded, when the lumas were knocked around by a sudden impact. Rosalina recognized the creature instantly, knowing it to be one of Mario's old foes from Good Egg Galaxy reborn. Lumas were in danger of being eaten by the rampaging Dino Piranha.

Leaping into action, Rosalina followed the beast as they gravitated to the nearest planetoid. The dinosaur was much like Giga Bowser, Rosalina thought, with no freewill beyond an urge for destruction, which was merely an annoyance for Rosalina now. She was able to control gravity, so she harnessed its pull around the planetoid to smack the ancient piranha plant baby into the planet and made its hard tail hit its flowery, fragile head.

While this galactic threat went down without too much of a hassle, Rosalina could only think that the ease of taking care of Dino Piranha was an ill omen to come. She was intensely fearful that Giga Bowser would not be tamed, or defeated, as easily.

Without bogging her spirits down anymore with ill things fate might yet bring, Rosalina focused on the search again and rejoined her star children to find their adoptive father.

Fox had had this Arwing outfitted with a scanner that could read irregularities in lifeforms and detect irregular seismic wave activity. Finding both after an exhaustive search for at least one bioweapon, Marcus was drawn to Solar while his thoughts were elsewhere. What was he going to tell his father when Oikonny was sure to come up this very day?

Thinking of excuses and explanations, whether or not to tell the complete truth to his dad, was pushed away as something rose from the depths of the sun. It was Vulcain, an Androssian bioweapon from the Lylat Wars that the three scientists had somehow managed to conjure up from Mew's genome. All life really was possible through her.

Not succumbing too much to the philosophical ramifications of this plot and his mission, Marcus set to worth pelting the abomination with arwing cannon fire. Twin lasers pierced the volcanic shell of the ape-like monstrosity. It did not stall long to build up its attacks either. Vulcain dove into the magma of the star and shot up again to send a wave billowing high, threatening to scorch Fox's vessel for a final time.

Marcus saw it coming and almost predicted it as well, remembering his dad telling stories of his fights through the Lylat System when he was eighteen once. Feeling like an extension of his father now stuck in some sort of twisted déjà vu, Marcus destroyed the fire-shooting menace that had been created from the sick will of evil mad scientists.

With one unholy bioweapon gone and assuming more would be found in the future, Marcus gave up the search after scouring the solar system for a little longer. It was time to face himself and his father and relate the moral cesspool which he considered his conscience; Marcus still second-guessed his thoughts and actions. Hardly any of that was doing any good.

Mewtwo had been buying time for what felt like forever now, and it turns out Giga Bowser was not going to let it be sold for eternity. Although his concentration was strong, Mewtwo could not hold his psychokinetic shield around himself and Mew much longer. The weak yet essential Pokémon could scarcely believe her power had led to Bowser's transformation. She was a simple-minded Pokémon who could barely fathom her importance in the universe.

Her clone, on the other hand, was all too knowledgeable of his originator's impact on the worlds. He had to protect her, and as Giga Bowser stuck his claws into the weakening shield of energy and blazing it in flames, Mewtwo accepted he would have to fight to protect her above all else. He took down the protective barrier around them, pushed Mew far away from the platform to spectate in space and prepared to fight his fellow bioweapon.

Final destination was an eerie setting to have a duel. The neon-infused, crystal-powered arena glided effortlessly through a sea of stars with Giga Bowser taking up most of the room. As the stage was seemingly sucked into a blue tornado (perhaps an illusion created by Master Hand's brother, Crazy Hand), Mew could only watch as her friend hovered around the edge of final destination, Mewtwo's feet never touching it while he concentrated all his energy on slightly hurting the behemoth with shadow balls and psychic blasts.

Even a psystrike could only topple Giga Bowser over onto his shell. He was surprisingly quick to get back up too. Mewtwo was growing fatigued, and he was nowhere near subduing his adversary here. One way or another, Bowser had to be taken down, even if the old version could not come back. Mewtwo was doing his job so far, but all it would take would be for him to die for Giga Bowser to find Mew and set the stars afire in her wake.

Mewtwo let out a telepathic yelp, involuntarily, which was rare, when Giga Bowser snagged its claws on the hero after reaching down to grab him. The tube connecting the back of Mewtwo's head to the gap in his shoulder blades was severed, leaving the Pokémon struggling to stay alert, let alone stay focused on a necessary brutal assault. Mewtwo had never experienced such a feeling as wooziness.

At this, Mew rushed in to try to help but was batted away by a swift lash of Giga Bowser's multi-spiked tail. Her pink bubble of energy shot out around her; though, she was still hurt badly. Mewtwo had seen enough, the rage inspired by the attack on Mew enough to put him back into the fight as the swirling blue and twinkles of light around them shed into a black abyss with perpendicular green lines of purest energy.

Both bioweapons drew strength from it all. Giga Bowser leaped into the air and crashed down just inches away from Mewtwo as he prepared to attack. An all-encompassing shadow ball barrage bombarded the stage while Mew still floated next to it. She seemed to be suffering. Mewtwo ignored his own. He and his energy were dying fast.

Ignoring a need for defense as a psychic shield could have protected him from the immense wall of fires that now ravaged his body, Mewtwo decided to take a chance and focus on one final gambit: a mental assault. Mind focused completely, the Pokémon stared into Giga Bowser's eyes that shone with malice that neither belonged to Eggman who created him nor the real Bowser who could never be so evil. This force Mewtwo attempted to combat was unlike anything else he had seen; it was fully primal but also relentless in its bloodthirst. Mewtwo challenged the tiny mind that housed that force, making Giga Bowser squirm with unbridled pain. The flames began to die out, and Mewtwo hoped they would entirely before he did.

At the end of his power, Mewtwo smiled faintly at what he saw. Finally, Bowser was shrinking, reverting back to his normal self just as fast as he had grown. Mew was safe and perhaps Bowser was too. These were the last thoughts that raced through Mewtwo's mind before he collapsed to the ground, the floor of final destination the coldest thing he had felt since the inner glass walls of the test tube that birthed him.

Bowser was collapsed too, still breathing. Rosalina found this out when the observatory landed, excruciatingly just too late at the sight of Mewtwo also unmoving on the platform. Mew had rushed over to stand, flat-footed, on the abdomen of her friend. He was apparently dead, his grievous wounds unfixable.

Lumas were nursing Bowser, impossibly still alive himself, when even Rosalina, one of the wisest beings in the universe, witnessed a miracle of life she had never imagined possible. Before her eyes and the sparkling ones of the young stars, Mew cried over Mewtwo. The glistening tears, like stardust, seemed to gravitate toward Mewtwo's body. The welling in Mew's eyes did not stop until she saw it. Mewtwo awoke, body healed and mind at peace, his spirit renewed as he looked into the beady eyes of Mew.

"You saved me," whispered Mewtwo in his mind to hers. "How is that possible? I hardly feel deserving of such a miracle."

Mew only smiled, a face that said she could save someone she truly loved and how she felt her selfless clone was immensely deserving of the second chance at life he was getting. For once, Mewtwo had very little to say.

"Thank you, Mew. I'm so glad I could save you. I'll never take this life for granted again. It's time to look into the future mostly, keeping the past around only to learn from it in my case. I am blessed to be near you."

Mew did a loop in the air as Bowser listened. He had only vague imagery of what had happened stirring within his head, and it was going to take some counseling with Rosalina and more bedrest to get over what Giga Bowser had done to him and the life surrounding him. Stronger than ever before though, the king of the koopas had no doubt he would bounce back. He had a family and a future to think about as well.

He turned to Mewtwo and said, "The future… That is what we need."

Bowser grunted in his lingering pain, and Mewtwo grimaced. They had barely got out of the mad men's plot alive, but still, they focused on what they indeed were: alive for the future.

Marcus stood, hands in pockets, uncertainly putting weight on either foot every few minutes as he waited outside of his father's office door, torturing himself in the process.

Throwing his fears aside and finding courage in the usual calmness of his father and how understanding he imagined he could be, Marcus stepped forward to open the door. At the same instant, Fox burst through the door. Bumping into Marcus, Fox was still absorbed in some document he was reading on the holographic projection coming off his watch. He was about to apologize when he saw the deep blue eyes of his cub staring back at him. All of a sudden, pride welled into Fox's face, and Marcus could only feel undeserving.

"Marcus, I'm sorry…" said Fox, feeling much too sorry in Marcus's opinion. "I've been so consumed with work that I haven't had time to focus on being a good dad…or husband. Lately, it's been a lot. Maybe I'll task someone else with doing some of this shit. I don't want to miss what may be my last year with you and your mom."

"Woah, wow, dad…I don't know how to reply…"

Fox had obviously hit a breaking point for the day, and his spirits were low, even after the success of Marcus's mission. Marcus motioned to a couch in the hallway. An offer to sit and talk made an obvious difference in his dad's mood.

"You know you're the best dad I could ask for, right? Don't beat yourself up for no reason, please. Not with all you're doing for everyone."

"I suppose you're right, son. It's just…you and Krystal are the only ones I let my guard down for, show how I'm just as discouraged and worried as anyone else here. If we don't make it through all this, it'll be on me…"

"No. Dad, no. It'll be on all of us. And if you somehow screw up, doubtful considering the perfectionist you are, father, no one will exist to even know."

Fox could not help but chuckle. He was glad to be spending some quality time with Marcus, even if it was mostly spent discussing the impending doom they were in. Some small talk later, after Marcus jokingly told the truth that he much preferred his badass dad acting stoic and charismatic in the face of all adversity, the pup closed in on what he wanted to talk about.

"Still though, I do enjoy it when you let your guard down, dad. It makes me happy to be there for you for once. I hope you know we all feel that way, and if we don't, it's probably because your leadership makes us all feel secure."

"Well, thanks, Marcus. And I want YOU to know that you're always there for me. Just being around you right now has been the happiest part of my day. And seeing you take on these missions on your own initiative, start a family with that beautiful, wonderful wife of yours – well, it all makes me prouder than you'll ever know."

"Actually, dad, that's what I wanted to talk to you about today…in a way," started Marcus, his voice immediately shaking at finally bringing up his flaw. "You shouldn't be…as proud of me as you are, I mean."

Fox looked surprised. He had not seen the change of the conversation's pace coming at all. "I'm not sure what you could do to change my opinion of you, Marcus. So…this is why you came to talk to me?"

"Yes," said Marcus with sudden dry mouth. "It's about the mission. I'm sure you've heard that Giovanni and Oikonny were killed."

Starting to guess where Marcus's words were going to go, Fox answered: "I've heard that much, of course. Omega conducted the entire report and handed it in when we arrived home."

"Mmhm, there were some details I don't think he included. I've done something terrible, dad, but I'm not sure if it was a mistake. Omega killed Giovanni, and I…"

"Killed Oikonny," finished Fox. There was a pregnant pause and Marcus was only slightly surprised. His dad knew him better than anyone. He only believed his son was so perfect because he usually was.

"Yeah, I did…" confirmed Marcus with sorrowful resignation. He had no pity for the ape he had slain, but the last thing he ever wanted was to put more weight on his dad's shoulders. Maybe his disappointment would do more bad than leaving Oikonny alive would have done for the galaxy.

"I can't believe you felt pressured to do that for me…" muttered Fox.

"What?! That's insane. I did it because I sincerely didn't want that bastard terrorizing anyone ever again. It's gone on for too long, and I was willing to sacrifice my morality to take him out."

"You honestly think it's your sacrifice taking the life of another, Marcus?"

Fox's words cut deep. The Nintendo principle of not taking any life, no matter how impractical it would be for the future, was his practiced dogma, but not absolutely. He thought he would have been able to talk his father into rethinking the deaths of some of their most persistent, dangerous enemies.

"I-I, no…I'm sorry, but…"

Marcus was stammering uncontrollably. Telling the truth to his dad could not be going worse. "But you have to see, there is some reason I felt Oikonny had to die. That evil coward, pathetic excuse for a living thing had to be stopped, and he was just going to keep escaping punishment. We would have had to deal with that bastard throughout this entire year. It would have set us back and only ruined the lives of INNOCENT people. I know what I did was wrong, dad, but I cannot apologize for it."

It looked like Fox's mind was changing, a little at once. Either that, or his expression had begun to soften when his son's tears streamed across his blue fur in his passionate explanation of his mistake. Fox had not at first pondered about the thought his son had put into the ape's execution.

"I'm sorry if I made it seem what you did was unforgivable, Marcus…there might be some practical merit for us, having killed him. But you must understand, my beautiful son, that actions you take as an individual reflect all of us as a group, a family. We don't take the lives of others lightly. We like to reserve killing others, no matter how deplorable they are, as the last resort. I know you know that."

Still sobbing, with his burden being released and internalized at the same time, Marcus said, "I do, dad. I'm not sure if it was weakness or some ego thing that made me feel I could make a decision that would affect the galaxy this way. I just don't want this to affect your work…. Please, don't let my mistake bring you or Nintendo down."

"Marcus, you could never bring me down. I love you, okay. Come here."

Father hugged son furiously. If this was supposed to stop Marcus from crying more, it was doing a horrible job of it. The pup sniffled, and his dad patted his back reassuringly.

"Above all of this," said Fox, "it's most important that we stick together through everything. Anything you decide to do or become: your mother and I will love you unconditionally for it."

Fox stopped embracing his child but still held on to his arms tightly. "While I may not have done the same," said Fox, "I understand the struggle you made for yourself. You make your own decisions. I'd never want you to be me. Be your own fox, but do it for yourself, not because you feel pressure from outside or even because you think what you'll do will save the world around you. You're only eighteen. You should still focus on yourself. I want you to take care of Marcus too. Hell, if I don't, I'm just an old man. But you've still got a lot to live for."

"Dad…thanks. I hope I can give you a lot to live for too. I am sorry for disappointing you through all this. It wasn't my intention."

"You're not a disappointment, Marcus. Never will be. And I'm just glad I can help you through this. You're probably right about all of this. That menace can't harm us or others now, and who knows? Maybe that will make the difference when it comes to the end only months from now. Being above morals is something I can't handle, and maybe some would consider me the fool. In my grey years, I'm done thinking my ethical standpoint the highest ground. Just keep this in mind Marcus: whatever you decide in the future, and in the past as you're experiencing, those are decisions you'll have to live with forever."

"You…always know the right things to say, father. I love you so much. Don't ever stop being the coolest leader I could ever aspire to be."

"Don't ever stop being the strongest pup I've ever known."

"I won't. You've eased my mind, dad. How else could I repay you?"

It was rhetorical, but Fox used his son's question for his parting lesson.

"You can keep those tears inside or outside you. Either way, I know you'll understand the weight each life holds."

"Yes, dad. I know we both do."

"Stop it! That tickles!" yelped Kelly, who was engulfed in the flames of Lucario's aura.

"I thought you said this felt like a massage," replied Lucario calmly. "What gives now?"

"Eesh, I never said that about my whole body. I can't believe how bold you've grown with me in such a short time."

Kelly Atlas, Nintendo's first full-time public relations liaison and Lucario's partner, rested face up on a mat in the zen Pokémon's dojo. In the past couple weeks, she had felt happier than ever before. She suddenly had a job she adored more than anything, and the beast she had always admired from another world was now her best friend and constant supporter.

"It's called comfort," replied Lucario, reminding her that she was in conversation with her lover. "I've grown comfortable around you." He smiled and stared with auburn eyes deep into her aura. "You've made it easy."

Touched by his loyalty, Kelly leaped up to kiss him. Their relationship, quickened by the end of the universe around them and the combination of their fiery personalities, had blossomed into something special. Nothing could distract either of them from each other. At least nothing they had encountered yet.

"So, how weird is it meeting versions of yourself over and over again?" asked Midna on her return trip from Hyrule Castle Town and the gathering of heroes.

"You know we're all different people," said Link. "The goddess of time just saw fit to make us all similar."

"Or perhaps she's perpetuated the spirit of the hero because she's smitten with you. I know that's what I'd be trying to do: replicate perfection after I saw the first of your kind."

Midna stroked Link's shoulder sensually. Seeing him interact with other noble heroes like himself had amused her all day, and it got them both in a great mood.

"You're the one who's too kind," blushed Link. "That look in your eyes is still weirdly unsettling."

"Well, by now, you should know what it means, beast." She giggled incessantly as her imagination wandered to places she and her lover would soon reach. "I wouldn't be scared or anything…."

Two young souls were quite enthralled with the presence of Captain Falcon as he strode triumphantly through the Pillar, victorious once more after having returned from Phantom Road alive again. The GX grand prix maze had been dissolved, and the kids assumed that was why he was so thrilled. Not much else made these tired heroes so overjoyed anymore. Not to be distracted for long, one of the boys got back on track as they moved through their palace of a home.

"Is your dad doing okay?" asked Adam to Lemmy. They were becoming best friends very fast.

"Yeah, he is. Thanks for asking. I just can't believe he's doing so well after his crazy transformation. And…it's weird having my daddy back in my life after so long without him. We have all our brothers and sisters here too, but I don't feel like a family again yet…"

"I'm sorry," said Adam quickly. "I don't know what that's like. If I did, I could feel sad for you."

"Haw, don't be sorry you don't feel sad for me…not like that. I'm just glad I have you to lean on."

"I guess I am good at that, buddy, especially when I'm bigger."

"Hahahaha, literally! Speaking of which…"

The little Koopaling jinxed the massive growth into effect before the words, still only thoughts of his giant best friend, even passed his lips.

Feet busting out of only socks (shoes were too expensive to keep replacing), orange fur becoming outlined with powerful muscles, and sharp Desbrachian mutations giving edge to the otherwise cuddly, gentle goliath that was Adam, son of Shadow and Tikal, the modest boy, used to it by now but not happy about his power, grew until the spiked quills of his head touched the ceiling and his legs were sprawled out along the corridor.

Adam smiled meekly as his friend stood awestruck, like every time it happened.

"You are so HUGE!" screamed Lemmy with enthusiasm. "I wish I could get big like that. I think you get bigger every time!"

"Great," said Adam maturely and sarcastically. One thing he had not gotten used to more than anything was how deep his voice became after he grew.

"I think it is," said Lemmy cheerfully. "To be so big and still be so nice. THAT'S awesome!"

This time, Adam agreed with his much smaller friend. "You're right, buddy. I just hope I stop transforming out of the blue like this. THAT'S not helping much."

His transformations a hindrance now, also a reminder of an old possessive evil, were about to become crucial to survival. Adam had not the war experience nor the capacity of a learned universe view to even imagine how much use his godlike form was about to have.

Evil kept seeping from the earths to challenge Nintendo in their ever-escaping final hours. On either side of the forever battle, power of some kind was the only certainty.


	4. Chapter III: Guardians' Purpose

_Chapter III – Guardians' Purpose_

Perched on a Fichinan hilltop, covered in snow along with it, Wolf O'Donnell and Lucy Hare looked upon the city in which she taught astrophysics. That kind of life was too dull to be full-time for Lucy this time of year, especially this year.

"What do you think I should do, Wolf?" said Lucy, tired from pelting her unenthused partner with snowballs. "Levity aside, my decision could affect a whole lot."

Wolf grunted with indifference. He had planned this snowy field trip for a different reason, and talking about their responsibilities was getting him depressed.

"You honestly think I'm smart enough to know what you should do? You're the physicist for howling out loud…!"

"Wolf, you know full well that that kind of intelligence has nothing to do with this. Why are you being so distant right now? Whichever choice I pick affects you. I stay here and teach, and you continue to not see me as much. I go with you to pilot full-time, and the mother of your child is put in harm's way more often than not."

"Wow, so I'm screwed either way…"

"Yes," confirmed Lucy smugly as she crashed into the snow on her knees and nestled next to Wolf. The soft breezes passed briskly by their fur, and both pilots felt warm inside despite the weight of the conversation they were having.

They simply sat and looked upon the greyscale horizon in the middle of the blizzard they were in for minutes. It was the kind of quality moment Wolf had envisioned. It also gave him enough time to focus on being surprising.

"Whatever you decide, I plan on backing you on it. Either way, I know you'll be great. I just want you to be fulfilled."

"As I see again, every once in a while I suppose…you can be romantic. Gruffly. But still romantic."

"Yeah," said Wolf in monotone, hesitant to agree to that extent. "I'm glad to say that if I do something like that, it's not going to be all fake and worked up."

"So being real is romantic? I can get behind that."

They looked on at the neon blue lights of the Fichinan city some more. Lucy felt perfectly content as she glanced around at the snow-covered world around her. She truly loved this place, second only to some good friends, one of whom was by her side again now. Looking to the mountains to her right, she was shocked to see what awaited her when she turned to look at Wolf once more.

"I found it," said Wolf in his usual gruffness. "What do you want to do about it?"

In his hand, Wolf held a glimmering engagement ring, so white that it would probably be lost if he dropped it in the frost beneath them. Lucy, meanwhile, felt like all of it might melt; she blushed intensely as her stomach convulsed at the unexpected question.

Adding some humor to the shocked silence to dispel his own worry, Wolf continued, "Well, I guess you have two decisions to make now."

"No," said Lucy immediately, prepared to give her answers. "Consider them both made."

No more words had to be said. She leapt upon her fiancé and furiously kissed his scarred mug as they rolled around in the fluffy snow. Neither of them had ever felt so joyous.

"Negative," responded Meta to his superior.

"How do we even know it's there then?" asked Fox, confused by the recent string of reports regarding strange phantom sensations throughout the galaxy.

"From what I've heard, it's there. Just leave it at that, Fox."

Meta usually never sounded curt when it came to talking to any of Nintendo's members, especially his superior. However, the urgency of which citizens of the galaxy had reported strange, happiness-sapping sensations told the warrior one thing: Dark Matter was prevalent once more.

"What do we do about it then?" asked Fox, assuming the omnipresent evil he had never encountered before to be real and threatening. "I've never heard of such a thing…"

"Because it's always gravitated toward Planet Pop Star and the surrounding worlds," answered Meta. "Not to say anything against you, sir, but not every living thing can feel the hollowness calling to them, the kind this Dark Matter creates."

"Have I not paid enough attention to it?"

"No. I'd say it's a good thing if you've never heard it speak to you. Those who go looking for it, purposely or out of accident in despair, usually find it. It brings nothing good. I believe Dark Matter is the root of almost every evil Kirby and I have fought in our lives. I also believe it is completely self-servicing, always trying to reach its own goal of wiping out all life in the universe, of course, only after having put every soul through living hell first."

"Okay, so it needs to be stopped immediately. Again, I ask where we find this Dark Matter, so we can wipe it out."

"I wish it were that simple. When the Dark Matter does not have a specific target in its mind's eye and is just roaming freely around like we think it is, actively searching for it is essentially pointless."

Fox looked dejected until Meta amended this solemn statement.

"However, that doesn't mean we can't or won't fight it. We just need to be prepared to be sucked in when it picks the fight first. Wherever it's been congregating, it'll probably stay. If we station some of our warriors around those points, we might be able to pinpoint the lifeforms who have taken on Dark Matter and destroy them. But it won't be as simple as picking a bogey out of the sky…."

There was a reflective silence letting each other know they understood what had to be done. Fox nodded slightly to Meta whose head bobbed back.

"Then we will be on our guard," said McCloud. "We all have enough on our hands already, but that doesn't mean we can let this outside force ruin what we've accomplished so far. I think…"

"Yes? Fox?"

"Why don't we ask who among us have felt this presence of Dark Matter? If what you say is true and that anyone can feel it, there's got to be some of us who have heard its call."

"Are you sure that doesn't hurt?"

"Yes," said Samus plainly in response to Chris the Chozo's question. "It's ironic that you're the one shocked I can do this. It's your people who taught me how in the first place."

In the navy blue bikini of her zero suit, Samus was stretching her legs so that the balls of her feet were pointing the same direction as her face was: squarely at the handsome, beaked face of her new friend.

Chris had left his tribe so early in life that there was much about his own Chozo custom he did not recognize. Learning from Samus was a godsend, he often thought to himself. Always the scholar, the final remnant of the pristine civilization in the galaxy was at last learning the ways of his own race.

"I'm just thankful you're letting me learn from you," said Chris still shyly. He was hardly used to being around who he thought was the greatest hero in the galaxy. Blushing beneath the dark blue of his feathers, he continued, "I can't even fathom how lucky I was that you came to rescue me."

"Oh, Chris, honestly, would you please stop going on about that?" demanded Samus seriously. "You were one of, if not the best, discovery I've had in my days searching for bounties. Think of this: would I rather find the key to some ancient monster or some random artifact to hand over to the Federation or you?"

"Those first two have been all you've found before me?" asked Chris innocently.

"Mostly," said Samus in a matter-of-fact tone. "You've been a lot nicer to have around than all of that. And as a bonus, we've had the chance to keep you."

"Well, I guess I never thought of it that way," muttered Chris.

"Scholar," mocked Samus with a smirk as she assumed a new Chozo yoga position.

"But even so," Chris added, "that doesn't change how thankful I am for everything you and your friends have given me."

"And THAT doesn't change how grateful WE are to have you. So let's shut up on both ends, won't we?"

Chris heard that loud and clear and answered with just a smile as he tried to replicate the outrageous pose Samus was perfecting.

"I can't believe it…but you know almost everything about me," said Lucario.

Kelly looked confused. At this point in their ever-quickening relationship, she had told him every important detail of her life. What was Lucario still keeping secret?

"I might as well divulge this last piece, the deepest piece. Shouldn't I?"

"Only if you want to," said Kelly without having to think. "I don't want you sharing anything you don't feel comfortable sharing."  
"Maybe…it's about time I've finally told someone. Many of you, even from other worlds, have heard of the Lucario's sacrifice to save the Tree of Beginning."

"Yes, absolutely. And only few, including me, know that that was you, before being sealed away in time by the Tree of course."

"But what you don't know," said Lucario solemnly in his mind and hers alone, "is that it wasn't just I who was making a sacrifice."

"What?" said Kelly aghast. "Is there more like you who were sealed and then released years later?"

"Never released," said Lucario with a sudden tear escaping his auburn eye. "And it wasn't another Pokémon."

"Who was it then?" said Kelly, her voice dripping with sympathy already.

"My master…Sir Aaron."

"No…" sighed Kelly in disbelief. "But you told me about him before. You said he lived and died long before you were reawakened into the world."  
"He did, and through sacrificing myself (what I thought was sacrificing myself) I learned that he did the same to save all life in his time as well. The only difference is…"

Kelly already knew the answer before her soul mate could utter the rest.

"…that Tree brought me back to life but not him…."

Kelly hugged Lucario, careful not to puncture herself on his chest spike, as tears silently flooded his cheeks.

"I've always wondered why the same sacrifice wasn't a worthy cause to bring back a human. It's the definition of unfairness! And I'll never feel deserving of this second chance at life when these higher powers in our worlds didn't see it fit to bring Aaron back!"

"I never thought I'd be a dad. At least not as young as I am," said Falco smugly to his wife. "Thinking back on this past year, I'm just happy we got to skip the infant years."

"Okay, bub, firstly, you're not young anymore," said Katt. "And secondly, you're just lucky you made it out of your initiation into parenting alive. I'm sure you remember?"

"Like it was yesterday."

"Well, Einstein, it really wasn't that long ago."

 _Judas was a troubled juvenile living in the heart (and slums) of Cornerian City. Eighteen years old with the only resources he had to survive crammed in his unexpectedly bright head, the dark green jay bore a striking resemblance to Falco Lombardi. It was one of the silent bird's attributes that convinced others to follow his leadership in the gangs that ruled his life throughout his and his peers' youth._

 _During the spring before the countdown started ticking, Judas was earning respect amongst his superiors and followers alike in one of the most talked about groups on Corneria. The Meteo Comets were more like a mob in operation; planet police legitimately feared them, and their organization ran sophisticated and deep._

 _And while the forest green bird had never condoned the rumors of the Comets' more ruthless behavior, he knew his only way to lasting success anymore would be to move up in the ranks of Corneria's top mafia._

 _Judas was chosen to be the deputy enforcer in Cornerian City after the top Comets pack had come to review his accomplishments and performance around the local competing and cooperating dealers and turf-soldiers. The bird's swagger was unmatched and unwavering. It was this charisma that got him the promotion and the respect he felt he deserved…and also circumstances no version of himself ever would have wished for._

 _On a late spring night with a hot beating sun and a cool sunset breeze, Judas found himself in the cockpit of a commandeered Cornerian Military tank. Its mission: to rampage through the lower-class suburbs of Cornerian City to show the unrivaled influence of his boss, Rath Stag._

 _"_ _I know we used to compete with these other gangs," muttered Judas to himself, "but this is insane. I never wanted things to get out-of-hand like this…."_

 _His co-pilot, a rugged, silver fox named Kito, overheard his partner._

 _"_ _I thought you wanted this, tall and handsome," he chided. "You and I have earned a lot of respect these past few months."_

 _"_ _Yeah, Kit, and I didn't want the cost to be other people's lives…. You know people are going to die tonight, right?"_

 _"_ _As I understand, if we do our job…yes."_

 _"_ _Wow, savage. I thought gay dogs like you were supposed to be super sensitive about all this crap lately."_

 _"_ _Heheh, don't believe everything you see on TV."_

 _They were off. Their commandeered military tank looked like an upgraded Landmaster as it tore through the fields of the peninsula in between their base and the city ahead. In Judas's opinion, they got there far too quickly. It had only felt like a brief few moments instead of the hour in which both young recruits contemplated what they were about to do._

 _"_ _I guess this is it," said Judas. "We've got to do this now."_

 _"_ _Hell, if it makes you feel any better, we can't turn back now. Stag would only kill us and anyone else who pussied out this late in things."_

 _Knowing his friend right, Judas stepped on the gas and prepared himself to tear through the Cornerian City slums, territory of their rival gang: the Staresian Eyes. The mechanical terror of the surprise attack could have translated Judas's hesitation if he had only winced at this opportunity. Instead, he was able to keep his self-disappointment and frustration inside._

 _"_ _Hey!" shouted Kito over the roar of tank engine and crunching of makeshift alley homes, "At least you don't have to outright kill anyone if you know how to drive, hot stuff! I'm the one who got stuck with the gun."_

 _Judas thought about the tragic circumstances of his friend's situation. As the cannon pelted lasers off into the nearby buildings, the bird remembered how Kito had wanted to escape the gang life for something else. Judas had never expressed the same wishes, and now, he could not help but feel somewhat responsible for his best friend having to shed his peaceful nature and whimsical personality for the harshness of warfare._

 _As the pair were halfway through their rampage, it suddenly seemed like someone had overhead the tearing from space. Without warning, a ship shot through the atmosphere at blinding speed as a white streak of light that soon grazed the tops of buildings at the capital's peak. The Arwing sniped the other tanks that had been sent by Stag to overthrow the Staresians first. Falco's main target was the tank in the center of town, and he aimed for it now in the midst of fiery chaos, all with his trademark pinpoint accuracy…_

 _Kito and Judas were thrown from the vehicle immediately. They were both still alive, almost as if Falco had known exactly were to shoot to destabilize the tank but keep its occupants alive. Judas was fine sans the ringing in his ears and the singed feathers that caressed his body. This shot from the sky was like a blessing in disguise, he thought, to stop him from ruining lives. It brought ironic good fortune to Judas, but not for Kito._

 _The silver fox lay on the opposite side of the wreckage, holding his leg above him as he curled up in severe pain. It was broken, the femur having sliced open the respective artery. He was bleeding out fast in the lighter red of the fire around him; his vision was already blurred by the time his greatest friend had regained his senses enough to find him._

 _"_ _Judas! Buddy, just use this commotion to escape!" Kito yelled. "You want to…l-leave it now, don't you? Come on, I'm dead already."_

 _At this point, Judas had knelt down to see the gash in his friend's leg. He was too shocked to say anything in response. The forest green bird tore of his shirt and jacket to make a tourniquet, but it was barely working. His feathered fingers shook tremulously as he came to grips with what was happening._

 _"_ _Dumbass! You're not even listening to me," pleaded Kito, discouraged as he started to fade out. "Why won't you fuckin' leave!"_

 _"_ _I-I can't let you die, Kit…" said Judas, finally able to speak through shock and welling tears. "Oh, god, this wasn't supposed to happen…"_

 _"_ _Well, it…is…"_

 _Judas frantically ran his hands through the fur of Kito's face, hoping vainly in his effort to keep him awake._

 _"_ _Promise me that you won't waste your life, Judas, whatever it becomes. I…I'm already going. It sucks, but it's all right…now I don't have to do this anymore."_

 _In his last gesture, Kito waved to the chaos around him. It saddened Judas to his core._

 _"_ _This happened so fast," said Kito. "I guess I love you, Judas. You're…all I've ever had for so much of my life…"_

 _"_ _KIT!" screamed Judas as his friend slipped away. He was moments' away from being gone._

 _"_ _Just…do something for me, will you? Tall and handsome…"_

 _"_ _Whatever you want!" uttered Judas with no control to keep his voice low._

 _With the only strength he had left, Kito grabbed his friend's chest and pulled his ear to his muzzle._

 _Kito's last words were heard only by Judas. They were: "Kill…Stag. Don't let this happen to…someone else…."_

 _The silver fox's last breath escaped him forever. He left Judas, forest green and smeared with the blood of his best friend, on his knees surrounded by flames dosing innocent civilians and gangsters everywhere. The Arwing continued its soaring overhead. It was free; meanwhile, Judas still felt like he had the burden of own life and that of his friend's and followers' on his shoulders. The flying machine had given him the chance to run, and he was going to stay. The villain who had caused this single chain in time (that very Arwing to come to this planet, this city) was out there still._

 _As the police flooded the area, Judas escaped into the silence of the nearest mountain. He was going to kill Rath Stag tonight. Kito's life was going to be avenged. For now, Judas was going to have to lay low, for he would need the Arwing and the help of its pilot to do it._

 _"_ _I'm glad to help, General. It doesn't feel long ago when I was in a similar spot that some of these kids must be in," said Falco thickly. "Honestly, we should have made ridding our cities of these toxic gangs a top priority years ago."_

 _"_ _I agree and apologize, my dear Falco," said Pepper. "As Corneria's former military leader, I should have recognized our troubles at home just as much as I focused on those abroad. I guess that's why I'm not fully retired, so please don't call me 'General.'"_

 _"_ _Right," said Falco. "It's admirable that you've taken on this homeland security position when you should be drinking martinis on some beach on the other side of the planet, you unfortunate lap dog!"_

 _"_ _Well, I guess I just can't stay away. Not when my people still need me. And I thank you too, Falco. I shudder to think that some of the kids you helped in our Never Homeless project years ago may have been gunned down by your very Arwing tonight."_

 _"_ _Don't say things like that, Pepper, and I won't think things like that," admitted Falco, his honesty starting to cut into him. He headed back to his ship, still floating outside Corneria City's main tower, without saying another word._

 _"_ _For all our sakes," said Pepper lastly, "I hope we find the heads of these gangs, so we can make our kids safe again."_

 _"_ _You and me both, General," whispered Falco as he hopped into the cockpit._

 _He was ready to take off, prepared to be called back again when trouble was destined to spring forth from the lower echelons of Cornerian society, when a flashing light caught the bird's eye. Thinking almost nothing of it, Falco booted up his interface and revved up the thrusters when the same glimmer shone from the nearest mountain peak. It looked like an SOS._

 _Judas put away the crystal he had found when the Arwing began to hover nearer. Falco landed without a sound and looked for the origin of the light in the dark. He was on his guard as much as he was searching for someone in trouble._

 _"_ _Falco Lombardi," said Judas plainly. He was still unseen._

 _Falco whipped around to where the voice had come from. His blaster was charged, and his reflector strapped to his waist was inches away from a proper defense._

 _"_ _Who's there?! Show yourself."_

 _Without question, Judas stepped into the light of the Arwing's headlamps. His striking resemblance to Falco caught him off-guard._

 _"_ _My name's Judas."_

 _"_ _And how did you know who I was?"_

 _"_ _Really? Anyone with a functioning brain could recognize your Arwing…and that flying."_

 _Assuming him a friendly, Falco lowered his blaster and pressed straight away to the serious questions: "You weren't in that battle tonight, were you?"_

 _"_ _I was," said Judas simply. "I helped cause it. Then, my friend died for it."_

 _Judas thought it would not be very productive to mention how Kit had died._

 _"_ _I'm so sorry," said Falco understandingly._

 _This obviously had caught Judas by surprise. "What?! That's what you have to say to me. For all you know, you should be assuming I meant to charge into that city on my own freewill…"_

 _"_ _Huh, kid, I've been around for a long time. Rarely does anyone do anything in an embroiled crime war like this acting on their own freewill. Trust me, I've been there before."_

 _"_ _Hmph, I had always heard stories about the legendary Falco Lombardi, but I thought the whole 'humble beginnings' thing was a lie to make you seem more personable."_

 _"_ _Ha, don't need any help in that department," said Falco sarcastically._

 _"_ _I see," muttered Judas. He really had no clue what to think._

 _"_ _Well, here's what's important: why did you flash me down? Is someone in trouble?"_

 _"_ _You already know the answer to that, or I'm assuming you wouldn't be here. No, no one's in immediate danger, but they'll all end up like my friend sooner or later, I bet. That's why I want to destroy the Meteo Comets leader TONIGHT. I'd need your help to do it…."_

 _"_ _I see, Judas," said Falco as he thought about an extra mission. "And as rash as I am, you don't also think it unwise to attack out of anger with so little preparation?"_

 _"_ _Nope. I think it best to kill that bastard stag now while his forces are scrambled after what you've done tonight. He won't have near as many men guarding him, and now YOU are connected with someone who knows exactly where to find him. I also understand he's in the bounty system here: wanted dead or alive for the same reward."_

 _"_ _Kid, if you know about me, you know I don't do the whole 'mercenary' thing anymore."_

 _"_ _Then kill him because it's right," said Judas sharply._

 _"_ _Hmph, birds like us don't get to decide what's right."_

 _"_ _Then let's not worry about it."_

 _Falco liked this kid. There was something beyond his looks that reminded him of his younger self. That was not entirely a good thing, remembering how headstrong he was as a gang leader when street crime was hardly organized and the groups were much smaller and younger. Nonetheless, he could sense an urgent fire in the heart of this young man._

 _"_ _You know what," said Falco with confidence, "we could give this a try. My fiancée Kat might just come and help us out too. We'll make this a family affair."_

 _Judas chuckled as Falco called Katt. "Family affair?" he asked incredulously._

 _"_ _Heck, if you weren't dark green, you'd look exactly like me!"_

 _Judas felt like his life was moving too fast. What seemed like only minutes ago, he was mourning the death of his best friend. Now, he was on an island along with Falco and Katt far off into the southern Cornerian Sea. The massive prism that shot out of the ground before them all was the hideout for the Meteo Comets, and Rath Stag was no doubt perched at the top._

 _They charged into the ground floor without worry. Cloaking devices shielded them as they sniped the guards placed here. Hiding the bodies in an adjoining stockroom, the three were left to breathe as the temporary deceptive devices turned off._

 _Seeing Judas in full light for the first time, Falco had a revelation but was forced to save it for later. Having not been made aware to their presence, Stag and his supporters at the top floor had no chance to shut down the elevator._

 _Someone tried to use it unannounced on the way to the top. When the door opened to let the soldier in, Katt shoved her blaster through the widening crevice and gunned down a lynx whose eyes wrought themselves open before suffering no more pain. Judas thought to pose the question 'What if that guy wasn't a member?' but thought better of it instantly. He knew why she had not hesitated to kill him. This was Judas's idea after all._

 _After the anticipation of the smooth elevator ride upward, Falco, Katt and Judas hustled forward into the final hallway with guns ablaze. No creature was fast enough to stand up and fight against the shock that startled security. Rath Stag finally heard a commotion now, but by the time he even thought of acting, the three avengers were in his throne room._

 _"_ _Hands behind your head!" shouted Falco._

 _Rath did so but not without saying a few words. "Supporters are on their way," he chuckled. "Just like this traitorous boy who stands with you in arms against me!"_

 _Judas was surprised to be recognized. He had only just moved up in rank, and the Meteo Comets was such a large syndicate. This sharp memory of the mob boss only added to the malicious and ominous mood that pervaded the air. Something was not right._

 _"_ _You'll HAVE to kill me!" roared Stag._

 _Hopeless, and already found out, Rath Stag was not going to die without an impression. What he started by pressing the button below his desk blew up in all their faces. Stag pulled a gun taped to the bottom of his desk with his other hand and shot Judas in the shoulder before he could fire too. Staggered, Judas's laser sliced away an antler from Stag's head just as the room exploded in a series of disjointed sparks. Katt and Falco dove immediately and instinctively protected Judas from the blast while the same fires rocked Rath Stag to the core as the back wall fell away from the base._

 _It was unbelievable. When Judas, slightly burned himself, shed the cover of his guardians and looked up, he saw Rath Stag still alive and grinning wildly at him. His flesh was deep red in most spots were the fur had been singed to the root. Unable to contain himself, Judas flung himself forward and tackled Stag as the leader grabbed for another gun._

 _Falco and Katt watched as both of them flew out of sight. They went over to see that both were still hanging from the burning building, Stag grasping Judas's boot and Judas slipping already._

 _"_ _Katt, watch the door!" Falco shouted._

 _It was a good call that saw Katt gunning down gangsters who had been called to the chaos above them. Monroe was a great shot, and it let Falco focus on pulling his friend back up._

 _He did not have the strength, however. Rath Stag's final will was too strong, so Falco shot him in the face to let go of Judas. Somehow not dead until he was about to hit the ground beneath, Stag let loose one last shot that hit its target._

 _With a blasted back, Judas slipped from the rubble's edge and scarcely missed Falco's outstretched hand. Conscious or otherwise, Judas felt like he fell forever._

 _He awoke in a hospital bed in the Nintendo infirmary. Judas came to with a shudder, feeling like he had finally landed after his near infinite fall. He was somewhat surprised to see the kind faces of Falco and Katt at his bedside._

 _"_ _What happened?" asked Judas groggily. "How am I not…dead?"_

 _"_ _No clue," said Falco matter-of-factly. "Both of your legs are broken in multiple places, and your back wound almost left you paralyzed. You're very lucky."_

 _"_ _Indeed," seconded Katt. "They'll come a day, probably within the year, when you won't even remember what being held up like this felt like."_

 _"_ _That's not what I meant," said Judas impatiently. "I need the important stuff. What happened to Stag and the Comets? How long has it been since we attacked?"_

 _"_ _Just a couple of days," said Falco nonchalantly to match Judas's urgency. "The gang was investigated and officially disbanded after Stag's death."_

 _"_ _He died?!"_

 _"_ _Yes," affirmed Katt. "Falco, I'll leave you with Judas, okay? I know there's a lot you wanted to talk with him about."_

 _Katt left, leaving the two look-alikes in their shades of dark blue and green to talk together. Both knowing their mission to be a success, the conversation was a lot calmer._

 _"_ _So…where am I?" asked Judas._

 _"_ _You're in Nintendo headquarters. I'm sure you've heard of the famous Pillar."_

 _"_ _What?! Really?"_

 _Falco nodded._

 _"_ _I never imagined I'd find myself here," replied Judas honestly._

 _"_ _It could have been better circumstances that saw you here."_

 _"_ _I know…but still…"_

 _There was a silence until Falco interrupted it again. "So, now that you're completely free, have you given it any thought? You know. What you want to do with your life."_

 _"_ _Not a clue," said Judas, pondering. His mind had been on one track toward revenge since Kit had died, and now he had accomplished that. "I guess I'll go find something on Corneria…under a new name."_

 _"_ _Are you?"_

 _"_ _Yep, I've thought about that part already. I'm going to shorten my name to Jay…just like I always shortened Kito's name back when."_

 _"_ _Was that the name of your best friend that was killed that night?"_

 _"_ _Yes," said Jay unfortunately. He thought about telling Falco what killed Kit directly. But then again, maybe he would never have to._

 _"_ _See, someone with your skill should really put it to good use," started Falco. "I know exactly where you might fit in."_

 _"_ _Uhuh, and where's that," asked Jay in earnest._

 _"_ _Star Fox."_

 _If Jay had been physically able, he would have jumped up from his bed in shock. Instead, only his agape beak could be his tell that he had not ever expected such an offer._

 _"_ _So…does that mean you would be excited by such a prospect?" asked Falco cheekily._

 _"_ _Absolutely!" said Jay, his voice cracking out of excitement. "And would I be trained by the legendary Falco Lombardi?"_

 _"_ _Actually, I was thinking of giving you to Slippy once you've recovered."_

 _Falco got a lot of joy from seeing the dejected look on his boy's face._

 _"_ _Heheh, just kidding, kid. Of course, I'd love to train you. And that's not all."_

 _"_ _What?" asked Jay, his voice still quivering with anticipation._

 _"_ _I know you're eighteen (at least that's what the Cornerian Registry of Citizens told me), but you definitely still got a lot of growing up to do. I was wondering…if you'd be opposed to me adopting you."_

 _Judas's beak lay open for a different feeling this time. It was the feeling of being appreciated instead of general excitement. The forest green bird did not know how to express himself all of a sudden._

 _"_ _Falco…woah…I…uh…"_

 _"_ _You don't have to give me an answer already. I just wanted to put it out there is all," said Falco gruffly in his thick accent, pretending that either answer would not matter to him that much._

 _"_ _No…I…think this could be the best thing for me. I'll admit I need a lot of work if I'm to be a functional piece of this galaxy."_

 _"_ _Heh, you're already wiser than I was at your age."_

 _"_ _And you're the only grown adult who's ever shown me a shred of respect. But, seriously, do you care about me that much to take such a time-consuming charity case on?"_

 _It was a good question, and years ago, Falco would not have even considered it._

 _"_ _I'm afraid in my middle age, I've softened up so much I don't even recognize myself sometimes," said Falco. "But then, most times, Katt reminds me that that's probably a good thing. And I want to have the chance to be a father…just without the annoying early years."_

 _"_ _I can't believe this is happening…."_

 _"_ _Honestly, me neither. I'm just counting myself lucky that you flagged me down a couple nights ago. And that you somehow survived that fall of course."_

 _"_ _Well, I'll be sure to make up for not giving you any early years. I can be as annoying as you want. It's the least I can do," Jay said, "because you've already made my life bearable again."_

It took months for Jay to recover, but as Katt had predicted, he was fully all right and became a proud member of both Star Fox and Nintendo in little time. Marcus and the others of his age accepted him when he was still useless in his hospital bed. And when he finally got out and showed his skill, especially what he could do as a sharpshooter and aspiring pilot, everyone warmed up even more.

Slippy's eldest daughter, Isabella, warmed up too. She had swooned over the tall and handsome forest green bird when he was still injured. When he finally got out of that bed, their feelings all pent up without proper release for so long, their relationship became physical very fast. This led to a couple comical occasions where they were spotted first by Jay's dad and second by Isabella's. The latter being completely awkward and painful, the couple decided to be more discreet going forward. Just not too discreet. This was the possible final year of everything after all.

Falco had quickly become like a dad to Judas, and the old bird felt Jay was a son to him even quicker. Their relationship matured over the months, so much so that Jay eventually felt comfortable telling his guardian that it was he who had killed (but not meant to) Kito. He told Falco this just to be honest and somewhat regretted the decision after Falco dipped into a pit of guilt he did not even know was possible in his hardened heart.

Tales of young love and honest father-son interactions aside, what really mattered after the raid on Rath Stag's hideout was how much like a happy family Falco, Katt and Jay had become. They supported each other through everything and enjoyed, almost more than anyone, being on missions together. The Lombardis were incredibly proud of their son and the man he was becoming.

It was days filled with such happiness like this that Falco remembered the revelation that had come to mind on the ground floor of Stag's hideout. Jay had been one of the children he had given back to in the Never Homeless project. It had been the first selfless thing Falco had done once he finally overcame his self-centeredness after the Anglar Wars. The deep blue bird could now only see it fitting that his first interaction with Jay eventually led to a life carried out more for others than himself.

"I sense Dark Matter's presence in all corners of the galaxy," muttered Meta to Lucario in a state of trance. The jackal's prowess in meditation helped the knight learn how to connect with the evil entity itself and see its aura through all the fog of the universe.

"Then, I hope whoever it finds," said Lucario, "will be ready for it. You say it's not looking for an all-out fight this time. Just torture for those who are chosen for it?"

"That's what it's telling me. Maybe, it's weak and can only amount to insanity for just a few," said Meta, shrugging the incoming Dark Matter off as little to worry about. Of course, Lucario knew that was not how his friend actually felt.

"My friend," said Lucario, "I hope…"

But Lucario could not finish his telepathy. The power and omnipresent nature of Dark Matter seemed to burst forth into their minds, temporarily destroying the connection they had with each other and the universe.

"Darkness is rising," said Meta certainly. "A lesser man would ask how much of it we can take."

"But every man wonders it," said Lucario wisely.

Petalburg was just as peaceful as it usually was. Koops, the town's current mayor, was constantly torn between it and his post at Nintendo. Both were forgiving if he was away from one for too long; without question, Koops was harder on himself than anyone else.

Among those who understood him the most was his longtime girlfriend, Koopie Koo. Koops had thought many times about finally popping the question after seven long years of being together, but his uncertainty that had come back from taking on too much was preventing him from doing it. He was lucky his hopefully soon-to-be fiancée was a patient koopa.

One night, Koops found himself actually sound asleep and dreaming. It was a feverous premonition full of the things he wanted. His muscles too large for his baby blue sweatshirt and shell, Koops was so big and strong, he was able to jump through space between his home village and the headquarters of good that needed him when it battled evil. His family back in Petalburg were all very, and audibly too, impressed with Koops's physique and dedication. Koopie Koo swooned over him even more than she already did, and in another REM-induced vision in the comfort of the real Koops's second floor bedroom, the incredibly buff dream Koops was marrying the girl of his dreams, the koopa next door.

Koops imagined a blissful night and honeymoon. The couple stayed together forever and had a gaggle of adorable and kind children. Everything was as he wanted it. It had not even felt hard to accomplish. Everything was…

"Great…" said Koops sarcastically as he woke up and propped himself up perpendicular to his cushy paragoomba-feather pillow. He had obviously just realized that everything he dreamed was not real, and while fantastical it was, it had still felt like reality all the same.

"If only I was that strong and gifted…" muttered Koops into the inky darkness of the night, "…then I might be able to make all these things happen."

Getting out of his sheets and careful not to wake Koopie, a very heavy sleeper, Koops went downstairs to make koopa tea. Whenever he awoke in the night, he could never get back into the lull of circadian bliss. It had been that way ever since he was a kid, at least ever since his dad had been presumed dead at the hands of Hooktail when Koops was very young. Waking up to a nightmare about his father dying a gruesome death had never persuaded young Koops to go back to the opportunity of having it happen again. And while Koops rationally realized there was no reason to be scared of that happening with his dad safe and home again, his subconscious was goading him to stay awake otherwise.

After Koops finished his cup in forced loneliness (Koopie would have loved spending thoughtful time with her boyfriend), something possessed him out of nowhere. Koops had unknowingly taken a quick nap on the couch before wanting to go out. Koopa tea soothing him into another dream, this one was much odder than before. Koops unexplainably found himself in the getup of an astronaut in the Shiverburn Galaxy deep in space. Jumping amidst the floating space ice caps and across lava-filled pools yielded the koopa an enrapturing vantage point; slender figures like trees deformed in extreme conditions seemed to peer down at him. The denizens of the undiscovered Hell Valley foreshadowed a conflict that Koops could not know, and when the gazing from the far-off creatures became too much for Koops, he woke up again with a fright and a new purpose in mind. He suddenly felt pulled toward the outside, so he opened the door, unhesitant to meet the unknown. Because of the chill, night air, Koops would have gone back in to get his shell and sweatshirt, but the thing that called him pulled much harder. He would go in his boxers alone.

Before Koops knew it, he was briskly walking along the trail that left Petalburg, weaved through Petal Meadows and beckoned the Boggly Woods to intermingle. Koops continued to walk along in a semi-trance, reflecting a lot about his somewhat pitiful state but otherwise very happy life. The only thing Koops did not drift to think about, for some reason, was the mysterious force that took him near the monochrome trees and neon-throbbing foliage.

The allure of whatever was in the Boggly Woods was intense. Koops could feel the force pounding in his head now. The same energy was also pulsating somewhere ahead. It was only when Koops reached The Great Tree in the center of the woodland that the wandering koopa began to have some vague idea of what it was.

A shimmering, fizzling dark cloud of what looked like ash mixed with smoke festered on the ground before him. Koops reached out to touch it but hopped back, falling on his brief-covered yellow butt as he did so, realizing the danger that floated above him.

Someone more familiar with recent galactic history would have recognized the possessed figure as Marx, a simple jester and troublemaker from Pop Star who had become infatuated with the power of Dark Matter and had wished on a Nova to become one with the all-powerful darkness. Now, he was somehow still alive. Or maybe it was just a lingering shadow, projected by the Dark Matter that could truly never perish.

But all Koops could think was how he had been so stupid to follow a random telepathic calling to find himself in this mess. A screech and another unearthly howl splitting dimensions later, Marx Soul spread its wings and fired its laser blasts at Koops, basically naked and unready to defend himself.

The young adult koopa had made finding his own inner courage a personal theme and goal of his recent years, but this was something else. This time he had no friends to help him and nothing to protect himself or attack with. Marx Soul became even more relentless while Koops was only able to dodge some attacks. Sporadic and quite erratic, Marx Soul unleashed its entire arsenal of mind-splitting attacks on Koops. The monster split itself into two and tried to cram Koops inside itself.

Koops was not having that though. All of a sudden, he became quicker on his bare feet. Memories of Mario inspired him to jump high and away, and Koops landed on a low-hanging tree branch that snapped and fell immediately. Marx Soul actually warped straight into its path; the branch hit the villain on his pink and green cap, enraging the embodiment of tragic chaos transformed out of innocent meddler even more. He unleashed a humongous laser of nega energy at Koops who had fallen on his backside once more.

The assault nearly killed Koops, but in a way, it saved him also. The koopa rocketed through the same air he had been called through earlier in the night and slammed into the house where he and Koopie Koo stayed. Before Marx Soul could come to finish the job, Koops had already geared up in his polished shell and nifty shorts and sweatshirt.

"KOOPS!" shouted Koopie instinctually as she was torn from sleep after Koops's crash brought her to. Upon seeing what was coming for her boyfriend, Koopie was speechless; Koops, on the other hand, was prepared to fight back.

There was nothing ominous about the calling anymore. Marx Soul was as in-your-face as any evil godlike being could get, and Koops realized that, perhaps, the call had been for him to fight and gain courage by defeating the piece of darkness that had found itself in the eternal mistiness of Boggly Woods.

Koops summoned an oversized shell to appear and crash Marx Soul into the earth as it paused to ready an overhang of sorcerous energy balls that never came. The dark creature lay sprawled, with its tongue lolling out of its mouth beneath the cracked shell. Koops geared up for a mighty shell slam that penetrated all the defensive capabilities Dark Matter had given Marx. It was as if Koops was slicing through the fragile, child-like body of the normal Marx himself. The being screeched out a final instant, this time out of destruction instead of the impending doom it wanted to enforce on Koops and his town and family the darkness wanted so desperately to give up and give into.

Petalburg was saved; people of all kinds cheered out of their dimly lit homes as they had all been rocked by what Marx Soul had wanted to give. Koops was his town's savior. Not much else had ever felt this good. Not only had he defeated the beast that came to threaten his family, but he also assumed that such a powerful foe must have been on Nintendo's radar in the past. Fulfilling duties for both of his work obligations shed Koops's doubt and relieved him of his depression. Wanting it all now and not worrying about whether he could actually accomplish it all at once, Koops ran over to Koopie Koo and embraced her, spinning.

Koopie was at a loss for words. Her boyfriend was in great spirits, all after having destroyed some alien creature. It did not matter. Koops wanted to do the talking this time anyway.

"Oh, Koopie!" he cooed. "I love you so much. And I'm sorry…."

Instead of meaning the rubble of their house they stood in, Koops was referencing his recent fractured past self. He felt whole and self-actualized again and wanted to show it.

"I want to be with you forever," Koops said, getting to his point rapidly. "And the only way I'll get even stronger than how I feel now is if we stay together for all time. Koopie Koo, will you marry me, please?"

Koopie did have words finally. For this, she had rehearsed her response for years. It was easy having it come out because she knew Koops was the most complete koopa that would ever suit her. He was the kindest person she had ever known.

Link howled into the expansive clouds of twilight in the realm of Midna's rule. It might have been something about staying in the Palace of Twilight again, the memories of his duel with Zant and freeing of the Twili in the past still fresh in his head coupled with it being the possible final year of existence in this strange far future Link found himself in, because the Hero Chosen by the Gods was finding that more often than he had ever expected, he enjoyed letting his feral side loose as the Blue-Eyed Beast.

The twilight princess adored how he looked as a wolf anyway, and the hero would have been lying if he said that was not part of the reason for his cathartic transformations. Letting her animal run free throughout the grounds of the palace, Midna tended to some political duties of her own. Being a princess, as only Zelda and few others could know and relate, was not anything like the majority of the populaces they ruled would ever assume.

Like other Nintendo heroes with ties to scattered planets throughout the galaxy and the lands born on them, Midna constantly found herself in a difficult position of balancing the rule of her people with the power she owed to the universe at large. Knowing that Link felt this burden too and that her awesome, still-growing strength was needed to face impressive evil forces, Midna left the day-to-day overseeing of her kingdom to her primary attendant, Twizar.

Very lanky and very loyal, Twizar was absolutely seen as Midna's willing subordinate by the people of the Twilight Realm, no question. However, Twizar was admittedly a competent leader, and nearly everyone lazily going about life in the parallel world agreed. Life was simple and peaceful in the banished realm. Sol energy was being studied and harvested; no one relied on or created dark magic like the Fused Shadows of yore.

Sitting with legs draped over a cliff that led to abysmal twilight below, the goddess shape of Midna looked out to the clouds behind the main palace. She sat staring longingly next to her faithful companion. Like this, she almost forgot they were lovers, feeling Link's beastly nature to be a faithful friend.

She pat his head, Link whimpering jokingly as she did it. Midna wanted to be satisfied with her relationship, her rule, and how she could choose between being gorgeous or wicked in form whenever she wanted, but she was still thirsty for more. In truth (a secret no one knew but not because it was a dangerous secret), the twilight princess had always wondered where their spheres of sol came from. She assumed it was the endless expanse that extended in front of her.

It was no use looking though. Stories of Twili getting lost forever after trying to float into the forever abyss were haunting to say the least. But Midna was undoubtedly more powerful than those who had tried before and failed, so her curiosity was somewhat warranted and certainly not satiated.

She was never going to actually try it; she had too much to lose and was reminded of that when she stared infinitely into the blue pools of her beast's eyes that peered equally as fierce at her. The wolf's ears flickered. Link laid his muzzle on her lap.

Then, Midna felt an ominous yet excessively intense calling in her head for her to go and explore. The signal that came from the light mixed with darkness ahead beckoned loudly. Midna swore, that in just a singular moment, she saw slender figures in the distance…possibly shapes of those who were lost long ago, foolish enough to make the journey to find the secrets of sol power.

The figures disintegrated as soon as they had appeared. Midna thought she had dozed and dreamed it in the moment because it had seemed so unreal and had really made no sense. If her people who had gone to search in the past even before her birth had somehow returned, then why were they not corpses? Instead, they had merely stared in mid-air, almost mocking her because, before now, she had refused to trek out in the distance herself.

Not one to give up on a challenge, Midna gave in to the more ferocious (and more accurate) side of herself and left without a word. Link started to get up and move to get Midna's attention, but it was far too late; Link could not levitate as Midna could. For she was moving effortlessly into the twilight expanse, her long dainty feet dripping into the blurred clouds below and all around her.

Time was a paradox as Midna continued forward. It seemed like her power was going to sustain her for an eon, and in a way, it felt like one had passed already. But in her dreamlike state, Midna felt like she had woken up from something huge that went fast like the way daytime dies on the bosom of nightfall when she finally found something corporeal in front of her.

It was another cloud of simmering darkness. Magolor Soul sprouted from it, the corrupted alien lifeform inside a mere shadow of his former self. The smiley face that bore into Midna's soul was almost petrifying. The traditionally considered beauty of her true form was never going to match the evil that had found solace in the twilight of her world.

Magolor Soul ripped apart some of the parallel space time in the Twilight as Midna transformed into her imp self. She had no Fused Shadows to engorge herself with strong magic to combat her foe; however, she could at least fly faster as a smaller version of herself.

Unfortunately, it was not enough. Melting her fiery hair into an arm and hand, she had nothing to grab as she was inevitably sucked into Magolor Soul's portal of torture. Midna's screams were ripped out of her as sudden slashes flew into her from all angles in this disorienting dimension of nightmares.

Once Magolor Soul was done with the attack, Midna took the offensive, not able to contain herself as she screamed in rage. She became a shadow and started to scheme. Taking the form of a shade, Midna avoided being seen even though Magolor Soul could still feel its opponent present. Not able to find her in time, the dark monster was pummeled from behind with the weighty mallet that was the full size of Midna's fifth appendage.

Magolor Soul let out a deep yet chilling growl of pain, causing Midna to be even more reckless and shed her natural disguise. Midna kept beating on the scrap of darkness, all the while ignoring the spikes of space-time that continued to pop out in a desperate bid to skewer her.

Midna was enraged and wanted the fight over with. She warped both her and the beast back to the Palace of Twilight where Wolf Link and the Twili were awestruck when they watched the few seconds of a scuffle they were rewarded. Midna made sure Magolor Soul was pinned down with her hair hand as she heaved off a huge chunk of ashen land with her psychokinesis. She called to everyone: "STAY BACK! DON'T WORRY!" as she warped again with all her amazing might to return to the original fighting space.

With one last grunting of action, Midna whipped the piece of solid earth at the dazed, horned shape of Magolor Soul. The mass crashed into the beast, putting it into submission for a long enough time that gave Midna the chance to crush the living essence out of the dark disciple with her fluorescent, throbbing hand.

Magolor Soul's evil was dispelled, and Dark Matter itself was discouraged. It had tried to come back twice now through its old possessions. Both times, the attempts failed. Even in her celebration and great relief, Midna was not kidding herself: she was hurting. Providence, though unexpected, was about to cure those injuries.

A gigantic sol sphere was placed in front of her, materializing out of thin air seemingly. Midna had not seen what she had originally been looking for in the vastness of twilight, distracted with the battle that had surely required all of her attention. Now though, she was ready to make a discovery for her people.

This sol was so much larger than the energy sources they knew in the palace and entire civilization even. If it was not the origin of the undisputed magic that contained the Twilight Realm, then this still had to be something special, something unlike anything any Twili in history had ever seen.

Midna touched all three of her hands to the orb, which glowed incessantly bright. That constant pulse was warm and inviting. Midna felt chills and surges of heat spread throughout her body all at the same time as she embraced the ball, wrapping her body on one side. The sensation she felt next was unmistakable: growth. She had experienced something similar before, but turning into an arachnid-like embodiment of chaos had not felt this good.

At a very steady, calming rate, Midna grew taller. Although she did not look gorgeous as in her true form, Midna felt better than she ever had. About three times as big as the twilight princess before, Midna now felt like a twilight goddess. Her stubs for feet had splayed out into flat-footed plateaus beneath her long limbs. Her hands were as massive in relation to her body as the magical one coming out of her head usually was to her imp form. Breath soothed in and out of her prism-like torso, and a smile could not be helped from coming across her round face that still bore the uneven fangs, large eyes and dot for a nose that had always marked the Midna Link knew best.

She warped back to the Palace of Twilight with the newfound sol in tow. Everyone was amazed by that of course, but people's attention were understandably fixated on the giant that stood, lumbering over them. Link looked in shock and pleasant awe at whatever had happened; Midna's towering form was impressive. While she certainly was not gracious nor majestic in this form, she was definitely magnificent. Something about how big she had become (like a hybrid between a zora and a goron all while retaining Midna's distinct features as an imp) and how gentle she appeared acting around her people was inspiring. The anger and frustration that usually festered within Midna to push her to do great things for others was now replaced by an otherworldly serenity that seemed just as strong. Stories high and able to flatten anything in her way if she wanted it, her loyalty remained to her people and Link who stood before her, probably ready to worship her as a god if she decreed it.

But as Midna shrunk back to normal, she stayed the same. The sol rested within the center of the palace square where Link had charged his sword with light that had seemed like its memory too had been affected by the time paradox that makes things feel so close yet so long ago. Link looked at Midna, who stood as a smaller version of the giant, her eyes looking down at him as she was still a half-foot taller than the hero. She liked being a force that looked strong. At the same time, she also had grown to detest the demure style of her old, first self. The shape of an awkward, powerful giant better suited the image of strength and reflection she wanted to portray to her people and all the worlds.

"This, I believe, is the first Sol," told Midna to her people. "It emanates a light energy that generates strength and seems to bestow the Twili leader with great power, an obligation I swear not to take lightly."

Link smiled at his partner, so obviously proud in the responsible leader and brave fighter she had always been and was still becoming.

"May we hope to learn from its mysteries and grow ever stronger," said Midna.

Two thirds of a year had passed since Corneria City had first been cleansed of its most serious gangs and the accompanying turf warfare. Falco's adopted son, Jay, had become a strong, kind and instrumental pilot, sharpshooter and fighter for Nintendo in the short time since his recovery from his injuries, what he called battle rewards, the old Judas had earned.

Falco counted himself lucky that the spitting image he guarded was taking up the mantle of the fight. He was intensely proud of course, but Jay's activity in an Arwing was quickly becoming necessary. Team Star Fox and Nintendo were missing Falco's ace flying more often than not lately, and it was because Lombardi wanted to give his primary attention to the poor and underprivileged communities (the ones that bred gangs like the Meteo Comets and forced bright, young kids like Jay to undergo savage hardships) of Corneria and the Lylat System.

After the eye-opening experience of helping Jay take down his former gang's leader and stronghold (and upon reflection of his own criminal days), Falco could no longer ignore the obligation that burned inside him to help.

On one calm Cornerian afternoon with one of the bluest of skies the planet had ever seen, Falco found himself training homeless kids with a blaster at a firing range in the inner city. He was just now telling one of the bright, young bulldogs that he could pursue his dream of entering the academy for flight training because, with the legislature's new outreach initiative for children of all backgrounds and their future educations, he would get all the help he needed to make the most out of himself.

The usually jaded blue bird was happier than most others and most versions of his past self. Being here on the surface with his wife Katt Monroe just made charity all the sweeter.

"I never thought we'd settle down in this way," said Katt, "but I must admit, this is one of the greatest ways we could ever think to spend our time. My bird's really matured a lot through his adult years."

Falco barely minded being teased anymore either, but he did still retort. Katt said him not firing back was much less fun. Falco had not felt like such a mix of an old self and the new like this before; he usually was not the guy to admit personal growth or examine oneself for evolution, but it was undeniably present within him. If he was being honest with himself (and he more often was than not anymore), he owed all the positive change to his family.

Under all the other forces that guided his philanthropic feathered hands, there still was a pang of guilt. He knew he had not been completely blameless in the violence that had warped the lives of young people. Ever since Jay had told Falco it was his dad's accident that killed his best friend, Falco had been haunted by it every now and again.

He thought it was starting to subside when some kind of shadow appeared in the horizon in front of him. Katt instantly saw her husband look right through her and turned around herself to see nothing. Falco, on the other hand, could make out a slender, dark shape but could not discern any other features. For some reason, he felt like it was Kito and that he was calling from the dead, giving Falco a challenge to fly and find him.

While she was understandably very perplexed, Katt let Falco go, saying she could attend to the rest of the day they planned if that was needed. Falco had always been one to show up late and leave unannounced; that aspect of the lanky bird's character had not changed a bit.

Taking off in his Arwing, Falco only felt the calling growing stronger in his belly as he was pulled toward the asteroid belt, Meteo. The poetry of that was getting to Lombardi, and he wanted whatever was bothering him to stop. The only way for that to happen, it seemed, was to keep in pursuit.

Falco again saw the shadow of Kit, Jay's mourned-for friend, nestled within the tight crevice that shrank between two careening asteroids. Finally, the essence of Dark Matter appeared, throwing pretense aside to battle as 0.

Snapping out of his glumness almost instantly, Falco sped up in pursuit. He thought himself foolish to fall for this trick; he had never believed in the supernatural, and for him to have followed Kito's ghost so convinced he was being led toward something of importance was ridiculously out-of-character.

What was completely aligned with Falco's brand however was how fast he pulled off aerial maneuvers, slipping through the space rocks effortlessly to continue spreading lasers in the wake of 0. His near perfect aim was making short work of the weakness in the eyeball, and the battle was nearly won before a last-ditch attack actually posed a challenge.

"Finally, I was hoping to break a sweat at least!" cheered Falco as the villain tried to suck him in a shadowy vortex. It was not strong enough to take Star Fox's legendary flying ace in though, and he finished off 0 with a barrage of smart bombs and laser fire to put this pawn of Dark Matter out of its misery once more.

The darkness fizzled away and through the chunks of earth that floated through his vision. Falco was satisfied for the moment. Instead of flying off gloating in his glory for no one but himself like a younger Falco probably would have done, Falco simply let go of the controls and levitated slightly into space for a while.

He really was a changed man, he thought, and could not help but think how the symbolism of his battle with the mysterious 0 had brought that reality home again. All Falco Lombardi could think about after the fighting was how much he desperately wanted to see his wife and son again.

Truly understanding what he wanted, Falco gripped the stick of his Arwing and boosted out of Meteo toward the things he loved in the galaxy.

Knuckles the echidna wondered how long he had watched over the Master Emerald in his life. Thinking about that also made him wonder how many times he had wondered how long he had watched over the Master Emerald. Truth be told, he loved his duty more than anything in his world. It required the utmost vigilance, which he was proud to say he had in spades, and the honor of being chosen by fate to wield such a burden was so awesome, he thought it would sustain him for as long as he was destined to breathe. But in all honestly, Knuckles was only lying to himself if he said he was never bored with the same task at hand almost every day of his life so far. Days on Angel Island were almost always uneventful.

It was decided that it would be best to move the server of the chaos to its original home after the tragedy of Adam and the ripping apart of the galaxy. The Pillar smartly housed the seven chaos emeralds, so it made sense to most (including Knuckles, who had been a major player in the decision to take up his job of guardian once again) that the Master Emerald would be separated from its kin in case someone was able to infiltrate Nintendo with evil intentions to steal all the gems.

The echidna, stretching his bare feet over the altar and chewing a shred of wheat in his mouth, thought it extremely ironic that Nintendo had housed Robotnik himself in prison awaiting the transfer to G.U.N.'s maximum security facility while having the emeralds right under the mad doctor's nose. He could do nothing about it, and it served him right after transforming Bowser into a beast and altering the fabric of life itself. In fact, Knuckles thought Eggman deserved all the agony he got over the years and much, much more. Being tricked by the scientist had gotten old, and Knuckles was ashamed to admit that he had been more often than he ever should have. In this sense, Knuckles' personal faults made him hate the doctor even more.

Hours passed in their usual way: stagnant-feeling yet somehow always moving. It was peace and relaxation for hours until a storm suddenly blew in. What had been scattered clouds blocking the sun at random intervals now became deep dark blotches of thunder and rain that provided a change of pace for the evening. Dozing off was wonderful, but Knuckles would go insane without sporadic weather changes or the occasional forest animal up for a visit.

The storm started out soothing at first, which was nice for Knuckles because he was currently having a splendid time fantasizing about Rouge the bat and all the things they had been up to recently as a new couple, but just as swift as any crack of lightning, the whole storm changed its behavior and turned into a torrent of wind and sleet. Knuckles was not as happy about the change of pace anymore.

It took only moments for Knuckles to realize this was not just any storm. It seemed to be in tune with the energy of the Master Emerald. Instinctually turning to check on his burden, the echidna saw something glimmering inside it he had not expected, not ever really.

Slender figures shaped like the ancestors he had only seen in visions gifted to him by Tikal in the days of Chaos' escape appeared in strange sensations before him. The dreads, fists and proud forms of the echidna clan of his heritage bore into his mind with unstaring faces, for they had no eyes to see. That did not change how entranced Knuckles suddenly felt though. He wondered if he was only seeing these things because Tikal's reawakening and subsequent familiar power had returned, but that thought was no longer entertained when Knuckles saw it.

It was a glimmer of purest red. It had somehow burrowed its way into the Master Emerald itself. Out of insane fear of what could very well destroy the balance of wishes and chaos, Knuckles ran forward to shatter the protected Master Emerald, but it was too late. 02 had already sucked him into the dimension inside Knuckles' burden.

Dark Matter's biggest gambit at returning this year and overthrowing light for good manifested itself in front of Knuckles, who found himself in the familiar grounds of the temple of his ancestors' tribe. The ghastly halo, scarlet-tipped wings that bred death and the deep red eye crying teardrops of blood all appalled Knuckles. He had never seen anything like this before.

And he certainly was not dumb enough to think 02 anything but an enemy filled with purest malice. The villain shot out at him as Knuckles charged in simultaneously. The echidna's spiked fists drilled into the throbbing eye. Dark Matter's tool was seized with blindness and coursing with pain. Knuckles was strong enough that he was equivalent to the legendary weapon that had slayed the beast years before at Kirby's hand. The only exception was that Knuckles felt no mercy as Kirby and Ribbon had felt at seeing the wincing, pitiful and bloody state of this embodiment of evil.

Knuckles was not being moved by any of the tragic tears. This monster had come to threaten the Master Emerald, and not anyone could be forgiven for that, let alone some unholy thing that Knuckles could never hope to understand.

02 sliced out at its foe with the protruding cactus in desperate attempts to stay alive. Knuckles may have been confused and disgusted, but overall, his focus on beating the gruesome menace in front of him was unwavering. He let go a barrage of punches as fast as Sonic's feet could move across earth; his rage felt so great to unleash. It had come so fast, and now Knuckles was getting the excitement he so often wanted. 02 had evidently come to torture or challenge the wrong person.

The finishing blow was brutal. Knuckles glided upward, climbing along the sacred texts of his ancestors' monument, leaving 02 to cower in completely blinded obscurity below. It only shot out randomly, hurting nothing in the process. Once he reached the top, Knuckles drilled through the air like lightning and pierced through the deep red eye socket with ease, leaving a pool of boiling blood and fizzling Dark Matter on the grass of the sacred land touched by echidnas' feet.

With task completed and catharsis achieved, Knuckles enjoyed breathing heavily as an unbreakable brute, his muscles swelling with each breath taken inward. He had felt a spiritual connection with the fight as well. He had done everything in his power to keep the Master Emerald safe, and it had been enough. His duty still requiring his full attention, it would be quite some time before Knuckles found out how much else he had saved from despair and destruction.

The strongest of his race, Knuckles once again sprawled out on the grass before the Master Emerald. This was how he would spend the night: enjoying the floating isle all to himself. He had never felt happier.

Goddess of light Palutena had felt the growing, then diminishing, presence of Dark Matter in Nintendia too. Once the four scones of darkness went out in areas across the galaxy thanks to the duties held proudly by Koops, Midna, Falco and Knuckles, Dark Matter tried one last possession in its last attempt to assert its forceful dominance back into Nintendo. The Nightmare Wizard had always been a cunning man on his own, and with the power of darkness sealed within him, he had turned dreams into nightmares on Planet Popstar, however briefly until Kirby thwarted his plans with the Star Rod at the Fountain of Dreams.

Ironically enough, Kirby was in the past conquering that maze around Tabuu as present darkness took to Skyworld to combat the goddess of light to bring Trinity into shadow. That maze disintegrated away as Kirby was victorious, getting Nintendo one step closer to the true enemy, while the reborn Nightmare Wizard zoomed into Palutena's Temple in his spherical, celestial form to do battle.

Seer of the future in her holy home, Palutena had of course seen this coming. She deflected the ball instantly when it rammed into her sanctuary and into her. The Wizard went spiraling back into a palace wall, already disarmed of his shield at this deflection of his attack. Palutena wasted no time in bringing out the heavy guns; she knew a black hole would run the chance of making her foe stronger, so she called down a heavenly light that was happily bestowed by Zeus at the goddess's request.

The Nightmare Wizard faded almost instantly from the world, surprising even Palutena herself who had expected at least a tough fight. She could tell the near future, yes, but even she had not foretold how powerful her friends abroad, scattered across the galaxy would be when they faced the other embodiments of Dark Matter, conquering their own personal demons when they had beat them.

Without 0, 02, Marx, Magolor, the Nightmare Wizard or any of darkness's other vessels to bring enough shadow and despair into the world, Dark Matter's wishes were destroyed, hopefully postponed for a long time to come.

Palutena's only worry was how living darkness would no doubt feed on the tragedy and sadness of the people of Nintendia in its universe's final year. Only one Pillar could prevent that darkness from growing faster than ever, and unknown even to the goddess of light, another old threat was prepared to emerge from the unseen.

Lady Timpani glanced at the scraps of parchment on Merlon's desk in Flipside. She was visiting, as she often loved to do, the home of her old guardian who saved her as a pixl. Conversation was usually bright and about the prosperity of the two towns in the gap between dimensions, but today was something serious.

"I want to know more about the Dark Prognosticus," said Timpani confidently.

She knew the fell book that had foretold the end of the world at the whim of the Chaos Heart had not come to mean much in the way of destiny, but she felt that, in all its unfurling pages of evil, some information could still be useful to Mario and his friends this year.

"It's funny you bring it up now," spoke Merlon, "because Mimi and Nastasia were just telling me the other day that, according to your late husband, there was an epilogue to that prognosticus that included details that would most probably only happen if the world actually continued to exist, much to the disagreement with the rest of the book I should say."

Merlon was immediately sorry for mentioning Count Bleck, or Blumiere, as he had gotten used to calling him just recently. Somehow, a divine power saw fit to bring Timpani back into the mortal world with no memory of her heaven with Blumiere, reformed after the Chaos Heart's destruction. He had been chosen by some sad accident or cruel manipulation to stay in the world he had made for himself and his wife alone.

"Is there any particular passage they could recall that caught their eye?" asked Timpani, wondering if it had mentioned the return of Dimentio at all.

"If fact, there was," affirmed Merlon, pouring over some notes and sipping Saffron's Flipside-famous tea. As if he were reading Timpani's mind (and he just about knew her that well), he said: "Nastasia remembered the count, er, I mean Blumiere, reciting one passage because it seemed to hint that their minion at the time, the interdimensional jester Dimentio, would become part of some evil gang far in the future and try to rid worlds of life in case the Chaos Heart failed. Again, very odd indeed that part of the Dark Prognosticus would suppose its own failure…perhaps some unknown member of the dark tribe that composed it got his hands on it once and…"

Timpani was too focused on the existence of the passage to hear anything else. Ever since Dimentio had returned with Metallix, Zant and Zazan, she feared that something far grander in evil designs was awaiting Nintendo. It sounded like this chapter in the dark book might help them prepare for what would possibly come.

"Merlon, do we know any exact details from the passage?"

"Actually, we do! Nastasia, hearing it once, logged it into her memory banks. It's eidetic, you know, very handy. Wanting to let go of everything regarding Ble-Blumiere, sorry, because the pain of remembering him was too great, she wrote down everything she remembered from the Dark Prognosticus on…" Merlon opened up a book hidden at the back of his shelf, "these pages. And, I believe…" said the wizard has he flipped to the correct one, "this is what you're looking for."

Timpani read it and could scarcely believe the words on the paper. If it were all her friends would have to deal with, it did not seem that bad after all, but she knew that Fox and the others were at the ends of their ropes already….

 **If the Chaos Heart fails its mission to wipe out all worlds, let the humble jokester carry out his duty to end all things and start anew, for he is the proper harbinger of the worlds' destruction; as life is a joke, a jester should be the one delivering the punchline.**

 **He will not do it alone however. A disgraced king from a banished world will join the cause, followed by an unwanted creation, a copy of something thought to be much greater, and a toxic henchman who has lost his way. These four will form a Fallen Coalition only to return to greatness at the edge of the apocalypse.**

 **The Chaos Heart is certainly not the only thing capable of universal destruction. Any mighty power, divine or built from stubborn cruelness, has the potential to wipe out all meaningless life. One day, the jester will realize he houses this power within him and will stop at nothing to unleash it, lest he miss his only chance in the city of lights, home to the falcon.**

 **Great heroes will try to stop the massacre, but they are assured to fail. As the end draws near, something unexpected will come, and our tribe of darkness will rise again. From the ashes of pitiful worlds, emptiness will be born.**

Reading the short passage gave Timpani waves of chills down her spine. If this all came to pass, Tabuu's evil desires could turn out null and void. Or if Dimentio's sickness combined with Tabuu's plan…Timpani shuddered to think what terrible hell that could be like.

Fox already had far too much on his hands, and hearing of this plot leftover from the Dark Prognosticus only heightened his stress. He was sure to thank Timpani for the information, because of course, he was thankful to have all the knowledge they had to save the worlds, but even Nintendo's mostly fearless leader had to admit: it was getting old saving at least one every other day.

Marcus and Krystal, desperate as always to help their father and husband carry his great burden, made sure to handle what they could. For instance, something of little importance to the McCloud family had some severe ramifications for some of Nintendo's traveling members. Mega Man and Roll along with the rest of Dr. Light's robot family were quite concerned; their creator was being put on trial on Katina, an impartial system to judge the doctor. He was being charged with aiding the enemy as a technical accomplice to Dr. Wily, who had always used his robot creations to spread havoc every time he was able to hack them.

The basis for the prosecution was admittedly fairly strong. Miles Edgeworth pointed to Light's gross negligence for having made waves of eight robots again and again, knowing the almost certain possibility of them being hacked by someone with evil intentions. That someone was always revealed to be Wily, and after several times of the same cycle of Mega Man defeating Light's original creations and ruining Wily's plans, the cities of their world became quite tired of it. In Edgeworth's case, yes, Wily was paying in prison for what he had done repeatedly, which included many prison escapes. His life was forfeit to the system. Edgeworth's question was simply: why shouldn't there be a punishment for Light as well?

Preparing to answer that question with confidence and his usual charisma was Phoenix Wright, ace defense attorney. He had been working day and night for months to prepare Light's case and was getting treated handsomely for it. The majority of the public seemed to be siding with Light, but there was still a hefty divide that was making for an interesting case.

On one cool, drizzling day on Katina, the verdict was finally reached by the jury. Among those on it included Bill Grey, a Katinan native, the only anthropomorph of the twelve and one of Fox's best friends, Anthony Higgs, who had been experiencing trouble keeping up with his civic and federation duties, and ten other humans from Earth, Mobius and almost every major continent of Trinity.

Nintendo needed the report from the case's outcome instantly, so Marcus tipped off Kelly to travel to Katina for the reading of the case, which was supposed to be private and media-free. Mega Man joined her on the trip. He needed to know what was going to happen to his father.

Once there, Mega Man and Kelly were mostly shocked at what they heard. And when the verdict of "guilty" was read aloud for Dr. Light, something else happened outside that made the end of the case a whole lot worse.

It was a robot attacking, though not the kind Mega Man was used to at all. It was huge with sharp, blue metallic tendrils for claws and razors that extended the length of its bus-size tail. The beast was incredibly ugly and was blasting city blocks to bits with its lasers and speedy slashes. Metal Overlord glanced over at Mega Man with disgust and contempt as he immediately sprang from the courthouse with an intent to stop it. The gambit of the Fallen Coalition had begun.

When Espio heard the call to emergency reverberate with red lights flashing throughout the Pillar, he had been observing the completion of the latest maze. The Hero of Hyrule had just defeated Yuga Ganon and restored Lorule's Triforce when the sirens blared. Instantly, the chameleon knew he had to go wake his best friend from his slumber. Nothing would stir Silver's meditation otherwise.

Even with crisis obviously at hand, Espio could not help but feel the slightest pang of guilt when he entered the hedgehog's quarters. The sole reason his friend was spending more time in deep thought to improve his abilities was because of his assuredness that he would be needed to keep The Greatest Maze intact. With missions being accomplished by the rest of the team, Silver knew from the near future that Tabuu's creation was in danger of collapsing, thereby dooming the universe to an earlier demise. Espio nudged his floating friend awake with some force.

Without reacting at all to being awoken, Silver merely said in resignation: "I think I'll need to go soon."

"I know, I know," muttered Espio, showing his need to get going. "That's why I feel bad about waking you; I know you're doing this for all of us. But I think we'll need you. The alarm hasn't gone off in a long while."

Silver, easing out of his trance, finally noticed the ringing and flashing during Espio's speech. He did not need any more explanation. If there was one thing Silver could always be commended for besides his telepathic powers, it was that he always knew where he was needed.

"So that's Metal Sonic transformed then?" said Marcus to his dad, who was busying his followers with boarding. "We know that much from Sonic, right?"

"Yes, and there's been a confirmed disturbance in Port Town too. It's probably that band of thugs, meaning that Metallix must be a pawn. He's not as powerful as Dimentio even in the form he's in on Katina. They wanted to distract us, but they underestimate us."

Fox was packing the last of the supplies onto the Great Fox, almost ready to shove off from the lowest docks suspended in artificial gravity and air off the Pillar's bottom.

"We're lucky we have our resources," Fox said. "One of the bounty hunters on Earth – goes by Pico – told us there was an explosion in the center of the city. Described as fitting the stuff we've seen the wizard use before. That's why we're sending most of the contingent to Earth now."

"But what about Mega Man? He can't possibly take on Metallix in the form he's in."

"You're right," confirmed Fox as he and his son boarded the Great Fox. "That's why we're sending an enhancement we've cooked up his way."

"The boss's son, and I still don't get to know about all the cool stuff…" muttered Marcus as his father gave the go-ahead to ROB64.

The Halberd, Great Fox and all other starships were off, leaving few behind to man the homestead. Tails jettisoned himself to Katina with Mega Man's enhancement in hand. The Tornado X would meet the others later but not before showing the worlds that Dr. Light's will to innovate in science outweighed the consequences his adversaries would will into villainous effect.

Upon landing at the outskirts of Port Town, Captain Falcon greeted his family with a disposition never before seen on the racer's face. He was visibly worried. Nothing truly dear to him (for he held very little close to his heart these days) had ever been threatened before, but now the metropolis he grew up in was in the middle of something seemingly huge and so far unexplainable. As cubes of purple and yellow were sighted around the crash, Pico's report was confirmed. The Captain himself had come from the middle of a Grand Prix, put on hold, once he heard the news of the unexpected terrorism, and at hearing specifically what villains were most likely responsible to direct his angry motivations, the Falcon was ready to take back what was his and millions of others who called Port Town home.

Reaching the crash site, which had been evacuated almost completely by now, dozens of Nintendo's strongest heroes looked ready for battle. But they were also perplexed. Before anyone could speak to the coalition ahead, they wondered why the attacks had not continued. Zazan and Zant merely glanced menacingly at the heroes as they approached; the two blade-wielding maniacs flanked their leader in the middle. Dimentio did nothing but pose as a silhouette behind the smoke that still had not cleared from the crash.

And then, before Fox could speak a word of negotiation to any of the meddlers, a transformation occurred instantly before their eyes. Lowly jester though he was, his power always surpassed appearances, and he was showing it now. Somehow able to do it without Luigi or the Chaos Heart, the magical behemoth of Super Dimentio showed itself forth once more, gloating as he did so.

"Like this prime form of destruction bringing?" asked Super Dimentio cheerily, weirdly echoing low sounds coming from a head that was his own and not Luigi's. Besides this, Mario could tell, every aspect of the boss looked the same and just as demented as he had in Castle Bleck years ago.

"How did this loser come back like this again?" asked Bowser angrily to thin air that would not answer. "I thought you needed that heart and Luigi…"

"Oh, why yes, that USED to be true, dear turtly loudmouth," chimed Dimentio happily. "Until, of course, as you learn now, I pilfered the Dark Prognosticus lost between dimensions and studied it hard to realize I could become whatever I want to be! Sounds cheesy, I know, but since I had taken on so much power already, all I needed were the secrets in the fine print in that FINE book. It was a pity it was gone for so long. Dimension-hopping really comes in handy!"

Some of the others could not take the jokes anymore, clamping their fists ready for battle or mumbling to their comrades for a strategy to take the three on. Certainly, there would be no negotiating with a godlike figure, and judging by the mean look on Fox's tired face, he seemed to know that too.

Captain Falcon was in line with the rest of his family's thoughts. "We won't let you destroy this place!" he blurted out. "There's no reason to do it, and we're going to show you instead of tell you!"

"Oh, my…" muttered Super Dimentio, almost inaudible under his breath, "You think I'm destroying this tacky old city? Oh, no. That would be much too predictable. No, rather I thought I'd control this fight my own way. We're going to see the damage we can do together! For now, Zant and Zazan can have their fun with this stinky town. So, if I don't see you soon, Ciao!"

Most of the Nintendo crew felt themselves get lighter, their insides bending painlessly around the magical warping happening around Dimentio. He was taking them somewhere, somewhere where the mad jester thought he would have more fun. The unpredictable was going to be his fetish for the coming war, and he had been planning for months how much of a cruel one it was going to be. Only the Captain and the Hero of Winds were left to contend with the others….

Mega Man had heeded Tails' call from the Tornado X. A package was going to drop from his friend's ship. It could not come soon enough. Rock was having a hard time fending off Metallix and avoiding the goliath's attacks while exhausting all of the accumulated robot powers of his own to fight. The lawyers on both sides were busy evacuating the courthouse, and when Dr. Light emerged from it just now catching fire in the disarray, he could not help but feel the familiar pang of pride seeing his greatest creation in action against the robotic beast.

He was hardly astonished at how well his son performed anymore, but that astonishment was set to grow. Because once the Tornado X loomed into view, both Light and Rock saw it: the Giant Man prototype the former had been working on before his trial. The rocketing spaceship lowered it down by crane and flew off just as quick, its pilot wishing Mega Man good luck with a thumbs up and smile.

Giant Man was already deactivated, the equivalent of being defeated. Rock could not help but smile at this, knowing what he had to do and that, also, victory was almost imminent. Scanning the behemoth yielded the expected results, and Light along with the others in court and pedestrians of Katina's capital gaped in awe as Mega Man towered and surpassed the tallest buildings and Metallix, truly earning his namesake in the process.

Needless to say, and to the great joy of the civilians watching, Metallix was no match for the truly mighty power of the improved mega buster. Dodging the last frantic attacks of the disillusioned Metallix, Mega Man blasted the abomination away in one shot, leaving a distressed and dying Metal Sonic in the wake of its super form.

Zant and Zazan both wasted no time in skipping the formalities of their previous selves and immediately delving into their insanity to scare off their combatants. Pursued by machetes of steel on Zant's wildly slashing arms and the precision of Zazan's natural outer shell blades, Link and Falcon fled to get a grip on their situation. They were smart enough to realize that striking rashly could get them killed as well.

It was a comforting thought at least that the remaining Fallen Coalition were not capable of world-destroying feats or city-ruining attacks, as far as they knew. All the remaining heroes had to do was keep the villains away from innocent bystanders and plan their response to the crazed onslaught Zant and Zazan kept up with.

They showed no signs of stopping even when Link and Falcon fled to an empty building filled with rubble. The anglar and twili simply shoved through with their insanity and beat any obstacle into smithereens along the way. The unstable opponents could not know in their state that they were actually playing into the heroes' advantage. Able to see holes in their defenses quite easily after minutes more of fruitless slashing, Link and Falcon decided to brave the fight and come into it with flaming fists and Master Sword swipes.

This more modest battle was hard fought, and it was not going to end for quite a while.

The first spot of assault Super Dimentio had chosen by random was the dilapidated remains of Kremkroc Industries on the first DK Island. The facilities were in bad shape, and the pollution was just as rampant as ever. If the jester was trying to disrupt the lives of creatures throughout the galaxy, he chose a terrible place to start. But once the heroes fighting realized how much Super Dimentio was enjoying himself, they came to the inevitable conclusion that their foe's chaotic mind was just in it for the destruction of anything and everything, living or nonliving.

Super Dimentio's madness had not made him dumb or dull-witted by any means however. With his unique powers, he was able to conjure a special dimension, a den of imprisonment outlined in green that could hold the majority of Nintendo who had come to challenge him.

For now, the evil entity was pleasing himself by bringing the old kremling machinery to life with his magic and shooting pellets of concentrated pain the heroes' way. He was having fun with the rag tag gaggle of Krusha, Wario, Lucas, Pac-Man, Blaze and the Hero of Time from Termina. They were not a team used to working together; in fact, half of these random choices, picked quite well on Dimentio's part, had never really met each other.

That being said, once they had tired of Super Dimentio's annoying attacks and started to read each other's movements, this group banded together strongly. Flames erupting from Blaze's burning palms kept the living effigy to dark magic at bay. The dark monolith that was Super Dimentio was much too big to move, and without the Chaos Heart, his form was not invincible. He writhed in intense discomfort as the others added on to Blaze's beginning.

Krusha, the only one who recognized his surroundings, ripped out vats of chemicals from the main factory and whipped them at Dimentio's mug. They exploded instantly when connected with flame. With a hearty yell of "It's Wario time!" the game designer did the same, returning to the strength of his exploring days and twirling the same vats around and around until they crashed into the target.

"Protect me while I do something," said Link to Lucas mysteriously. The latter boy did not question and was very impressed to turn around after having done a perfect psychic shield, answering a deeper voice that was still Link, thanking Lucas for the protection.

Goron Link smashed into Super Dimentio, knocking him into the poisonous pond that outlined the edge of the ruined factory. For fun, some of the others rode mine carts toward the sour shore, hoping to continue the fight. Pac-Man was following a trail of floating Pac-dots and Link, who had transformed quickly, went to dive in as a zora to aim for the submerged punching bag when another warp occurred.

Unfortunately for this group, it would be a while before they could release their pent up excitement and team strength again. They were now stuck in Dimentio's personal dimension, apart from all other worlds and realms. Those who had been there all along realized though that Super Dimentio must have been weakened more, for some of the prisoners had broken out into another battlefield.

Unknown to Nintendo, Super Dimentio still intended to have some fun; the barrage of teamwork in the smog-ridden peak of DK Island was simply becoming much too troublesome. Now the villain stared down at Solid Snake, Marth, Wolf, Bobbery and Olimar. He prepared to jump and land on his adversaries but was not quick enough. Reflexes too great for Dimentio's recognition, most moved out of the way, Snake pushing Olimar into safety.

The warriors could see this was going to be a tough battle ahead. The combination of heroes turned out not to be as weird as many of these hardened veterans had fought together before, but where they found themselves was the problem this time. Wolf and the others stood atop a floating platform in the midst of purplish Fortunan clouds nestled in the heart of dodora territory and thick bramble and other exotic plant life. Creatures, mostly predators, spit acid and throbbed menacingly while the main battle roared on; the pack of Nintendo fighters had a lot to contend with.

They could not know, their comm links disrupted by Dimentio's pocket of space and not at all worrying about communicating with the others right now, that help was on the way. Tails had been on his way from Katina to the Earth the F-Zero Grand Prix and Port Town called home when he had noticed a strange energy signature, Dimentio's warping, emanating from the jungle planet as he passed it. The Tornado X hesitated none in breaching the cloudy atmosphere, speeding through a much greener canyon, across the blue sea to reach the far more wild area of the fifth planet of the Lylat System.

Before Tails could find his friends, Wolf made do without his Wolfen, shoving fangs, claws and blaster bolts into the velvety fabric of Super Dimentio's magical body. Olimar was basically useless without Pikmin at his side to command, but the others more than made up for his unpreparedness. The admiral blew up time after time, wasting no energy in charging up but rather pelting the monster with repetitive blasts while Marth and Snake combined their cultures' weapons into a particularly penetrating combination of pain for Super Dimentio.

The smart bomb, capable due to an add-on Slippy had made for his new foxy friend's ship, unexpectedly launched from the Tornado X was the last straw for Super Dimentio here. It was time to try a new area. He was getting slightly sore from being alone and punished, without the strategy or teamwork of the rest of his coalition. The Dark Prognosticus had made him even more arrogant than before.

Super Dimentio's next stage was Mt. Dedede, and the new competitors facing evil were Kirby, the Chosen Hero Link, Pit, Shadow, Goombario, Geno and Katt. It was a mix of magic and practicality that brought the jester down to his massive knees this time.

Dedede's old castle was blasted apart at the first attack. Charging up with bridling anger and dark power, Super Dimentio let loose a mighty laser that decimated the castle. Part of the cliffside ripped off as well, but flying Pit and floating Kirby were able to pick their friends up. Once they were back on semi-solid ground, Geno started first, wrapping his puppet arms around the boss to restrain him for seconds long enough to allow headbonks, grenades, and a variety of sword, bow and chaos spear slashes to ruin Dimentio's day even further.

"Outrageous! You think you can beat me!" cried Super Dimentio, more worried than he wanted to sound. "Your attacks are mere annoyances. I'm MERELY trying new toys out to see who among you are the least pestering!"

"I have a feeling you're never going to find what you're looking for," said Shadow edgily. All the others joined up to make Super Dimentio silently feel this way as Kirby, having comically borrowed the hedgehog's powers, unleashed chaos blast along with him while the others pushed their divine projectiles of skyward strikes, light beams and ancient magic blasts into Dimentio's ugly face.

"Enough!" roared Dimentio in the next arena. It was a natural one in the time of the Hero of Twilight in Hyrule. That same hero, Silver, Meta Knight, Falco and Knuckles found themselves there. It seemed that Dimentio was intent on destroying the things around him instead of focusing on battle with his hated enemies now. The Great Bridge of Hylia stood no chance against his attacks; it tumbled into the cavernous Lake Hylia below while the others were just now getting their bearings on where they were. Once they realized what was at stake and who could be in danger in the first modestly inhabited place Super Dimentio had chosen for a battlefield, no one worried about themselves as they stepped into action.

Link was happy for the distractions his friends provided. He grappled up the surrounding rocks with double clawshots to get a good vantage point. The others either slashed or punched wildly. Knuckles' strength was far too disproportionate to his size for Dimentio to have predicted how much his punches would hurt. Falco felt in the mood to try out melee combat with his sharp wings, and Meta preferred his trusty blade Galaxia as always. The tornados that were unleashed by that sword were an excellent complement to Silver's moves. He had decided to stray away too with the enemy not noticing Silver's ammunition included the pieces of the bridge Dimentio had just destroyed.

Those pieces rammed into the boss with great force, causing an audible yelp of pain this time. Super Dimentio was definitely weakening, and it only furthered when Link leapt onto Dimentio's head and stabbed violently downward into the magical membranes with the time's version of the Master Sword.

"Ha, this guy doesn't stand a chance!" said Falco, amazed at his friends' displays of skill and not afraid to show it.

"You're damn right, Falco," said Knuckles. "We make a good team."

Super Dimentio, wracked with pain and not having blown away enough of Lake Hylia for his liking, could not stand to hear things like that anymore. He could still force his opponents to revisit his dimension. He just worried if he had the strength to make them stay there.

When Super Dimentio warped again to another field to battle, a couple stragglers trickled out of the dimension through his weakening might, meaning Leon, Panther and a select other few were able to return to the point of the first warp: Port Town.

The scene they observed when returning was chaos, which was scarily impressive considering the fight here was of a much smaller scale than the ones those in Dimentio's plot of space had experienced. The struggle among Zazan, Falcon, Zant and Link seemed to be much more personal.

Zant was somehow still going, along with his partner, just as fast as they had started. Was magic from Dimentio sustaining them in their insane endurance? Link could not help but wonder as he clashed steel against steel but hardly had time to. Falcon, guarding with his slashed to hell golden armguards, was looking tired. It was quite the happy surprise when he saw Panther out of the corner of his eye.

And it proved to be more than just a nice surprise. Panther recognized Zazan upon closer inspection as the pilot who had nearly totaled his darling Wolfen in the Anglar War deep beneath the toxic Venomian Sea. Wanting revenge and justice, the Star Wolf member blindly rushed in, catching Zazan off his guard.

Caroso stupidly tackled Zazan to the ground without armor on and prepared to suffer the consequences once he realized what he had done. Trying to throw the anglar off further, he hoisted him up, not thinking about himself until Falcon reminded him of how hurt he was about to become.

"HOLD HIM!" said Captain Falcon with more urgency than ever before in his careers as an F-Zero racer and bounty hunter.

Before Panther could even ask why, two things happened. While Panther closed his eyes, struggling to hold a constantly moving weapon, Zazan arced his arm blades behind and sliced open Panther's back with the pointed curves of the fish's scythes. The other thing that came to be made sure that that would never happen to Panther again.

Captain Falcon had moved forward, stepping into a charged Falcon Punch that could have rocked a whole building to the ground. The impact was strong, and the target had been Zazan's chest. The heart stopped at once, and taking several seconds to realize all that had happened, Caroso threw down the instantly lifeless corpse, ignoring his injuries for now. He could scarcely believe how awesome witnessing the legendary Falcon Punch had been. It was also very warming to have the Captain hurry Panther off to get medical assistance without acknowledgement of what had happened. They could talk on the way to the nearest Port Town infirmary.

Meanwhile, Leon was trailing the duel of swordsmen. He would not know about his boyfriend's injuries for some time to come; for now, he was enraptured in the fight a small child and a demon-esque being were having. He was observing closely to figure out how he could help. Zant had pushed Link to the edge of the city's docks now; the ocean abyss was calling if Link could not hold his ground against the assault from Zant that seemed to come at all angles. Seeing Link struggle into more visible sweating and tiredness at the non-stop onslaught, Leon acted without thinking.

Fortunately, it was a helpful decision. Leon took out his blaster and successfully stunned the usurper king. The effects lasted for only a second, but it was enough for Link to take grateful heed of the help he had received and answer with a flurry of sword slashes. When Zant shook out of his upright, frozen state, he rushed downward with a swinging blade.

This was where Link, the Hero of Winds, took his risk against the false King of Twilight, ruler in deranged thoughts only. The hero rolled quickly to avoid the swipe powered by the madness of the twili misfit, swiveled around his opponent in a parry reminiscent of the legendary battle with Ganondorf atop his tower beneath the Great Sea, and rose to inflict a similar history.

Zant's head toppled, mask and all completely and cleanly severed from the neck, onto the slick metal of the docks. The figure of the headless corpse loomed standing for a few moments until it too toppled. The head of the lunatic rolled still and found its resting place in the clear blue ocean extending for miles.

Link dropped the Master Sword and himself to the ground, incredibly tired. He had never fought so hard in his life. Leon was so impressed, he could not contain himself. He hurried over to the young warrior and made his amazement known.

"Wow, you were amazing, kid," said Leon purely, lacking completely the sadistic tone or professional air he usually held in situations like these. "I'm glad I could help a little."

A simple "thanks" was all the boy could mutter as he tried in vain to catch the little breath that was coming back to him. The gruesome death was best left forgotten, he thought. These two green Nintendo heroes could not have had more different opinions on the matter.

Fox, Marcus, Sothe, Ike, Amy, Midna and Koops were dropped in the center vastness of the plains of Crimea. They were actually quite far apart from Super Dimentio when they appeared in this new land, and seven of them stood healthy, ready to ride into battle against the enemy here. More fighters slipping out of the dimension and not maintaining the link with those he warped with: these had to be signs of Super Dimentio's powers slipping.

"This guy has to be losing bad now!" said Marcus loudly in the tone of a battle cry. "He's supposed to be like a god, and he looks a little tired at fighting us! Ha! Let's finish him off, dad!"

At most other times, Fox would have told his son to not be so overconfident, but beneath the stormy clouds above and the heavily traversed land beneath their fast-moving feet, Fox could not help but feel the same rush his son was having. He had not fought on land in so long; he could feel the adrenaline rising from the planet Trinity into his being. Marcus had to be right about this.

Friends Ike and Sothe were already rising into the sky with their swords aloft at Dimentio's shredded heels, skillfully dodging every projectile the boss threw their way. Amy hammered away as the others jumped on Super Dimentio like it was a colossus to be torn down. The troubled jester was feeling down already. He had not even badly hurt any of the Nintendo heroes, and he was only getting weaker.

Koops was flinging himself back and forth faster than he had ever done. Seeing his friends appear and reappear throughout the dimension they had all been stuck in had pumped him up for this occasion, and now having battled his inner doubts and demons, he unleashed his entire koopa shell-powered fury against one of Mario's greatest enemies.

Midna noticed the courage in the koopa beside her and said, "You've got an incredible amount of dedication, koopa. To keep going at that pace is admirable. I honestly thought you'd tire yourself, but I was wrong. Glad for it! Eee hee hee!"

She flashed a smile Koops's way, and he responded as Super Dimentio prepared another warp. "You can notice yourself too, Midna. It's highly powerful folks like you who use your power to add it to normal people like me that inspire me to be…"

Koops was going to say "…less normal," but it was not required. Their conversation continued in the dimension while Super Dimentio fought others at the Hill Top Zone on Mobius. There was nothing normal about these strings of battles.

Sonic, Slippy, Peach, Mario, Samus and Zelda from the time of a new Hyrule rushed in on this grassy escape, sliding down the hillsides to reach Super Dimentio, who, from talking back and forth in the dimension between battles, none of them feared in the slightest anymore.

That was not a mistake either. Sonic, arrogant as always with whatever he was up against, zoomed in faster than the others and struck with homing attacks all over the bumbling giant before the others could arrive. Armed with light arrows, an arsenal of weapons, power suit and emotional intensity, the heroines and their partners burned Super Dimentio more than he could handle.

It was a quick fight; the boss could not handle anymore, and he was not accomplishing anything. He could hardly handle warping correctly anymore, and his pride was not going to let him run away, not when he knew Nintendo could find him anywhere anyway.

The spear pillar was a beautiful setting for a battle. Lucario, Yoshi, Bowser, Roy, Popo, Samus's Pikachu and Mr. Game & Watch all agreed as they watched Super Dimentio prove no match for the power of Dialga's and Palkia's legendary moves.

The jester, last remaining member of the Fallen Coalition, was losing fantastically to the odds against him. The future of galaxy-wide apocalypse prophesized by the Dark Prognosticus was now becoming a joke in the face of Nintendo's united power. The book had obviously not counted on that strength being the factor against Super Dimentio's might and the support of his fellow disgraced villains. Now, the galaxy was a safer place that three of them were dead, and Super Dimentio was on the Underwhere's doorstep.

Annoyed that they had all been left in Dimentio's sick slot of space for the majority of the fighting, Marcus shuffled nervously as that space was torn apart. Super Dimentio no longer had the power to hold it stable, and thus, all of the Nintendo crew that had come to investigate the Port Town bombing arrived in a fitting place for Dimentio's last stand: Sammer's Kingdom.

The jester boss could not control his powers well at all anymore. Most of the heroes had been dropped suddenly, spread throughout the gardens, rivers and dojos of the serene land. Once they realized where they were, they ran to Super Dimentio's location looming on the horizon.

Luigi, Ness, King Dedede, Donkey Kong, Diddy, Link, Banjo, Kazooie and Dark Pit were those who appeared close enough to engage Super Dimentio already. They fought just outside the main palace of Sammer's Kingdom, where by coincidence, Lady Timpani was visiting to persuade the Knights of Sammer to join Nintendo's cause if they ever needed the army and the support of the king. Seeing the battle suddenly resume beyond his conference windows, King Sammer decided his mind would be made up contingent on Nintendo's performance right before him.

The heroes did not disappoint. Those running did not have to catch up to face Super Dimentio. The jester could barely speak now at how badly bruised and beaten he was. His joking spirit was crushed, and the hammer from the king, PSI from a young man and incessant pecking from a bear and bird duo were just insults at this point. He could feel himself and his power forever slipping away. And this time he did not even have it in him to bring the world crumbling down with a chortle. Super Dimentio was nothing without Luigi and the Chaos Heart after all.

"Aha! Take this, bad man!" yelled Luigi in righteous pleasure. His green fireballs were at last getting some payback for making him the monster at Castle Bleck so long ago. Timpani came out to see her friend finish Dimentio off. The others had let the underdog do it out of courtesy. They had all heard the tragic tale, and now the only tragedy that would be written on this day was that of the Fallen Coalition's jester who fell again.

Super Dimentio caused a mess of blurred sights and melting magic pools as he started to die and fade away from existence. Warps shot all around in crystal-like effects that temporality blinded the heroes who had banished the villain away from troubling them any longer. Only one of the warps yielded anything. For of course, anything that had been sealed away in Dimentio's prisons would pop out of his unstable, soon-to-be destroyed pockets of space.

What emerged from a warp in the center of the one hundredth Sammer guy's platform after the explosion that was Dimentio's final 'Ciao' shocked Timpani to instant tears that soon became stale on her unbelieving face. There was Count Bleck, Blumiere, clad in usual monocle and cape, standing before them all, just as shocked as the rest of them were.

Then it came to her. Timpani scolded herself silently; she should have realized Dimentio was the culprit (and that there was a culprit and not a misunderstood random accident that had made her lover disappear from her again) that could not help himself from kidnapping the man, his former boss, who had ruined his plans for a new world and the destruction of the old ones.

"Blumiere?" she uttered softly.


End file.
